Solbiate Olona, 9th May 2017. The NATO Rapid Deployable Corps Italy hosted the Eagle Eye 2017. This event set the base line for future training activities of the HQ and this year has been focused on the “Crises and NATO role in the Strategic Direction South”. The seminar has brought experts and academics to the “Ugo Mara” barracks for a qualified point of view on the situation on the so called Southern Flank of the Alliance, in other words on the Mediterranean and Middle East area.
After the opening remarks from Lieutenant General Roberto Perretti, NRDC-Italy Commander, and an introduction from Prof. Massimo de Leonardis, Director of the Department of Political Sciences at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, started the event.
Among the panel of experts who participated the seminar, Prof. Roland Friedrich, Senior Political Affairs Officer with the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSML); Amb. Ferdinando Nelli Feroci, President of the International Affairs Institute (IAI) and former Permanent Representative of Italy to the European Union in Brussels.
In addition as lecturers, Mr. Sergio Valcarcel, Senior Analyst from the NATO SHAPE, and Mr. Mel Mc Nulty, Political Advisor to the JFC-Naples Commander, took part in the seminar. Brigadier General Arturo Nitti, from the Italian Defense General Staff, and Colonel Bill Mangan, ACOS J2 of the NRDC-Italy participated and briefed during the current edition of the Eagle Eye.
The Eagle Eye 2017 confirms the NRDC-Italy attention on sensitive issues such as the instability and the political crisis in the Mediterranean Sea and Middle East-North Africa region (MENA). The seminar triggered a fruitful discussion on the role the UN, NATO, EU and the International Community may have in the delicate process of stabilization and security.