The Italian navy aircraft carrier Cavour and its fleet of Harrier jets participate in an exercise in 2022. Italy, France and Germany are proposing to form a European Union Red Sea task force to defend shipping in the Middle East, as the U.S.-led Operation Prosperity Guardian continues in the area. (Italian navy)
NAPLES, Italy — The European Union is moving to establish its own naval security force in the Red Sea that would work together with a U.S.-led initiative already protecting ships against Iranian-backed Houthi militant attacks.
EU states gave initial backing earlier this week to a plan for a European maritime security mission that would operate independently but coordinate patrols with the multinational Operation Prosperity Guardian, Reuters reported Wednesday.
If approved, Italy and France, which already have ships in the area, would join Germany in being the first to contribute ships to the EU mission, according to Reuters.
Italy hopes to fast-track the approval process so the security mission can begin quickly, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told reporters in Rome the same day.
“The political decision for us must be taken by next Monday,” Tajani said. The original plan was to get approval by Feb. 19.
The German navy frigate Mecklenburg-Vorpommern sails the Baltic Sea in July 2023. Germany, Italy and France are proposing to form a European Union Red Sea task force to defend shipping in the Middle East, as the U.S.-led Operation Prosperity Guardian continues in the area. (Elexia Morelos/U.S. Navy)
It’s not clear why Italy and other plan backers, such as France and Germany, want to establish a separate task force. The EU already leads similar maritime missions in the Strait of Hormuz and off the Horn of Africa.
In announcing Operation Prosperity Guardian last month, the Pentagon named Italy, France and Spain among more than 20 countries involved.
But Europe is grappling with backing U.S. security efforts in the Red Sea amid growing protests at home over civilian deaths and suffering in the Israel-Hamas war, analysts have said. Some have called for the EU to step up its naval presence in the Red Sea and reinforce coordination among member nations.
“The EU should develop its own track of maritime security cooperation with regional powers, including with countries like Saudi Arabia and the (United Arab Emirates), which have shown growing interest in developing their naval forces in recent years,” Camille Lons, a visiting fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relations, said in a Dec. 12 article on the council’s website.
Since Nov. 19, more than 28 ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden have come under attack by Houthi militants using drone and anti-ship ballistic missiles. The latest targeted a U.S.-owned commercial ship hit by a one-way attack drone Wednesday. The ship sustained damage but there were no injuries.
The U.S. and U.K., with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands, coordinated the first retaliatory strikes against Houthi military strongholds in Yemen earlier this month. The U.S. alone has launched additional strikes targeting Houthi military capabilities.
U.S. officials have said the strikes are not related to Operation Prosperity Guardian.
The French frigate FS Courbet, right, steams alongside the destroyer USS Jason Dunham as a French AS-565 Panther helicopter flies between them in the Persian Gulf in 2018. France, along with Italy and Germany, are proposing to form a European Union Red Sea task force to defend shipping in the Middle East, as the U.S.-led Operation Prosperity Guardian continues in the area. (Jonathan Clay/U.S. Navy)
