EU moving anti-piracy HQ says goodbye to UK; shifting to Spain after Brexit

Brussels, July 31: European Union countries today decided to move the headquarters of the bloc's anti-piracy Atalanta patrols from London to the Spanish port of Rota on March 29, when Britain exits the EU.

 

An EU statement said in Brussels today that the member countries also agreed to transfer the London-based Maritime Security Centre Horn of Africa, which informs shipping about piracy threats off Somalia, to the French port of Brest. The security center will remain under the Atalanta command.

The EU launched Atalanta in 2008 to fight brazen acts of piracy off the coast of Somalia, including the spectacular hijacking of a Spanish tuna boat in 2009.

The mission, which is also referred to as Operation Atlanta, was launched in December 2008, aimed at protecting ships belonging to the World Food Programme and African Union Mission in Somalia, which has been waging war on jihadist group Al-Shabaab. Its mandate was broadened to cover tackle piracy and armed robbery off the Somali coast and to monitor fishing activities in the region.

The move is no surprise. Spain and France launched their joint campaign for Rota and Brest to take over the missions in late March. The decision has been forced by the June 2016 referendum when Britons voted to leave the EU – under EU law the bloc’s agencies cannot be located in non-member states. Last year, the London-based European Banking Authority and European Medicines Agency (EMA) were awarded to Paris and Amsterdam respectively,