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A woman number 2 in Eulex Kosovo (Maj)

J. Vachter at his office in Pristina(BRUSSELS2) It is a woman - for once - who was named number 2 in the important European "Rule of Law" mission (EULEX) deployed in Kosovo (around 2200 expatriate and local personnel), as well as that readers of Club already know it.

Joelle Vachter is a colonel in the Gendarmerie and took up her duties on Monday (March 4) as deputy to the EULEX head of mission, the German Bernd Borchardt. She was recently in charge of the security of the French embassies at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2003-2006) before going to the United Kingdom as part of the preparation for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Saint-Cyrienne, she is also a graduate in Law and Public Administration from the University of Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne. After six years as a soldier, she joined the French gendarmerie where she served for 20 years. She's a Camel collector. It has 260 kinds...

His first operational mission abroad was in Albania as part of the MAPE (Multinational Advisory Police Element) of the WEU (the Union for Western Europe). Which is, in a way, the European Union's first crisis management mission. She then worked for three years at the DPKO, the UN peacekeeping operations department, as a staff officer, responsible for the deployment of the SPU (Stability Police Unit) in Kosovo and East Timor ( 1999-2002). She was in Kosovo with Kfor as head of the law enforcement battalion. And stationed in Côte d'Ivoire, where she led the gendarmerie deployed within the Licorne Force. She was also stationed in Germany.

Comment: women are a bare minimum at the head of European crisis management missions. To my knowledge, J. Varcher will therefore be the only with Sofie Mortier who is Deputy Head of Mission of the EUPOL COPPS mission (but this one is of a totally different size). It will no doubt be possible to retort that in the Member States, " the number of women in high positions is also rare ". True, but it is changing. We can no doubt explain that the presence of women in missions abroad over long periods (at least 1 year) is not obvious”. No doubt also. However, it is not logical that in the ten European crisis management missions, no woman is at the head of a mission. March 8, the date of International Women's Day, would be also the opportunity to recall it.

(Maj) Paper updated with the presence of Eupol Copps.

Nicolas Gros Verheyde

Chief editor of the B2 site. Graduated in European law from the University of Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne and listener to the 65th session of the IHEDN (Institut des Hautes Etudes de la Défense Nationale. Journalist since 1989, founded B2 - Bruxelles2 in 2008. EU/NATO correspondent in Brussels for Sud-Ouest (previously West-France and France-Soir).

One thought on “A woman number 2 in Eulex Kosovo (Maj)"

  • If you allow me to comment on comment:
    “We can no doubt explain that “the presence of women in missions abroad over long periods (at least 1 year) is not obvious”.

    And yet, dear readers, many of us stay there for more than a year… and even return at the first opportunity! Afghanistan, Kosovo, Bosnia, Iraq, Haiti, DRC, Georgia, and so on. So obviously it's not a problem for us to stay there for more than a year. It should also be noted that many men – career or profession obliges – only do one year in Mission. Both men and women, crisis management skills are acquired over the multiplicity and also over the duration of complex and demanding missions. Our commitment is there, and often for two or even three years. There remains the motivation of the EU and the CSDP to put these skills to work and enhance them.

    And the problem is there - if we want to see more women at the head of CSDP Missions it is not logical that very few women are at the head of divisions, teams or other crisis management positions on the ground. Like many men, many of us accumulate Missions but few of us have access to so-called expert or team leader positions. And yet, many of us have the motivation, the will, and the skills to be able to access these positions. Task to Member States to sharpen rolodexes and to put more competent and qualified women on these pivotal positions?

    As for me, I'm involved – 8 years spent in the field, including three in Kosovo and three in Afghanistan!

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