EU Naval Force - Somalia
Operation ATALANTA

French Ambassador for Antipiracy coordination praises EU NAVFOR – Atalanta

Her Excellency Chantal Poiret, Ambassador for international anti piracy coordination praised the European Union Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) – Operation Atalanta during a visit of Rear Admiral Peter Hudson CBE, the Operational Commander of the force.

Admiral Hudson was visiting the French Ministry of Defence to meet a number of Senior officials and exchange information on the continued success of the operation. Ambassador Poiret stated that she was “extremely pleased with the continued success of the EU NAVFOR (Somalia) anti piracy operation” She went on to say that “France remains a strong supporter of this first, and very successful, maritime European Security Defence Policy (ESDP) mission” and personally thanked Admiral Hudson for “the EU NAVFOR’s professionalism during this highly effective operation”.

Admiral Hudson met briefly with the French Chief of Defence Staff General Jean-Louis Georgelin who confirmed France’s commitment and continued involvement with anti piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden.

Further exchanges of information took place with Vice Admiral Bernard Rogel, the Assistant Chief of Defence for Operations. Discussions centered on the French assets currently allocated to the EU NAVFOR operation and the excellent contribution they were making to the operation. After the meeting the Admiral attended the weekly French Ministry of Defence press briefing and gave a short presentation on the Atalanta mission.