Europolitics was able to spend one week in the camps of the European army deployed in Chad, while General Patrick Nash, the commander of the operation, was making his first inspection visit.

An ordinary life, shared with the different soldiers engaged in the field, allowed us to appreciate the scope of the operation underway. Open interviews, when ‘confidential defence’ allowed them, were an opportunity to discover more details.

Though the EUFOR Chad/CAR mission is often presented by its founders as a logistical challenge, this word is not strong enough. In the field, it is a true logistical and strategic tour de force that we witnessed, among difficult climatic conditions and unstable politics.

This operation, like the operation of the EULEX mission in Kosovo, is made up of missions that are new to the EU in terms of scope. If they succeed, the ‘Europe of defence’ will have reached its full capacity and will move up to the next level. If they fail, the ‘Europe of defence’ will only be a subject for scholarly symposia.

The full special dossier EUFOR Chad/CAR Mission in pdf format is available at www.europolitics.info > Search > 225960