EUFOR Concordia was aEuropean Union (EU) peacekeeping mission in the Republic of Macedonia (nowNorth Macedonia), which started on 31 March 2003.[1] The EU took over from NATO's operationAllied Harmony and deployed around 300 troops to provide security to EU andOrganization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) monitors overseeing the implementation of theOhrid Framework Agreement, a peace settlement resolving the conflict between the government and country's ethnic Albanian community.[2] It thus became the first ever military operation of the EU.[2] While keeping EU's control over the entire chain of command the mission closely cooperated withNATO through transparency and regular consultations and its headquarters were at theSupreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe inMons.[2]France suggested fully autonomous EU operation butUnited Kingdom andGermany feared it will be perceived as antagonistic to NATO.[2]
EUFOR Concordia was a significant event in the evolution of the EU's security cooperation. In the words of the then EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana, when the Common European Foreign and Security Policy started only about a decade before, in 1992, "[f]ew then believed that... we would send out men in arms under the EU's flag."[3]
On 15 December 2003 the EUFOR Concordia was replaced by an EU Police Mission, code-named EUPOL PROXIMA, and the 400 EU soldiers were replaced by 200 EU police officers.[4][5]
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