The annual Summit of the International Association of Gendarmeries and Police Forces with Military Status (FIEP) opened yesterday morning at Villa Madama in Rome, at the end of which the Carabinieri Corps, which had assumed the presidency in October 2023, handed over the baton to the French National Gendarmerie. The meeting was attended by the Commanders/Directors General of the 21military-statutory Gendarmeries and Police Forces who has been received by the President of the Republic during their stay in Italy (see for details AVIONEWS). 

Annually, a general theme is identified as the object of study; during the Italian presidency, FIEP focused on combating environmental crimes, with a priority focus on protecting biodiversity and ecosystems. The particular issue is very much felt by the Carabinieri Corps, the most articulate environmental police force in Europe, and the comparison with other gendarmeries and police forces was useful and purposeful for a common commitment in defense of the environment, for the development of shared best practices and common protocols.

In 2024, FIEP turned 30 years old. In fact, on May 12, 1994, the Tripartite Commission,composed of the Carabinieri Corps, the French National Gendarmerie and the Spanish Guardia Civil,was established in Madrid. In 1996 the Portuguese National Republican Guard joined, and the following year the association, which in the meantime had become the Quadripartite Commission, was definitively named FIEP, an acronym made up of the initials of the names of the Member Countries at that time: France, Italia, Espaňa and Portugal. 

With subsequent Joint Declarations and amendments to the statutes, the organization took on the character of an “International Association", and there are currently 21 gendarmes and police forces with military status belonging to FIEP as members.In the 30-year history of the Association, prior to the appointment concluded with the meeting these days, the Carabinieri had assumed the presidency in 1999, 2006 and 2014 in correspondence with the bicentennial of the institution's founding. Certainly positive experiences in the important field of international cooperation. At this summit of yesterday, a unanimous vote was taken to grant membership status to the Moldovan Carabinieri Inspectorate.Their participation in the dynamics of the Association was supported by the Carabinieri in adherence with the strategic lines of national foreign policy direction.