The visit took place from 8 \u2013 10 November at the invitation by Dubravka \u0160uica, the Croatian MEP, in recognition to the crews for the years-long outstanding firefighting\u00a0 contribution along the Adriatic coast and to the \u201cWings of Storm\u201c as a great international promotor of the Croatian Armed Forces and the Republic of Croatia following the best overall performance award won at\u00a0 the Royal International Air Tatoo (RIAT) show in the RAF Fairford Base, the UK in July 2016.<\/p>\n
They also visited the NATO Headquarters, and were welcomed by the Croatian Military Representative to NATO and the EU, Major General Mate Pa\u0111en.
The Commander of the Firefighter Squadron, Lieutenant Colonel Davor Turkovi\u0107 underlined that the air firefighter forces maintained the year-round readiness to intervene in the event of fires, and said that the invitation to Brussels was a recognition and award for the efforts invested in that respect\u201c.\u00a0
\u201cThe Croatian firefighter forces have an important role and developed capability of assistance in firefighting to other countries at the operative level within the EU\u201d , said Lt. Col. Turkovi\u0107.<\/p>\n
The \u201cWings of Storm\u201c Team Leader, Lieutenant Colonel Damir Bari\u0161i\u0107 extended the appreciation to Ms \u0160uica for initiating the memorable visit to the EU and NATO main institutions.
“It was always an honour to perform at the many international air shows and to present the capabilities of our armed forces\u201c, stressed\u00a0 Lt. Col. Bari\u0161i\u0107.<\/p>\n
The Croatian MEP Dubravka \u0160uica expressed her honour to host the pilots and crews guarding the Croatian littoral and island from the fires for years already.\u00a0 \u201cThe Croatian crews fighting the fires, performing emergency medical flights and search-and-rescue actions on a 24\/7 basis, displaying the courage and humanity in helping the locals and the tourists during the high season have merited our deep gratitude,\u00a0 said Ms \u0160uica and pledged to continue lobbying for the Croatian firefighter forces to receive the \u201cEuropean Citizen Prize\u201c \u2013 awarded by the European Parliament for outstanding contributions by individuals and organisations promoting mutual understanding within the EU.\u00a0
MEP \u0160uica also expressed the honour of meeting and hosting the \u201cWings of Storm\u201c Team, whose superb performances continue\u00a0 to delight the domestic and international audiences and demonstrate the excellent promotion of Croatia in Europe and wider by its Armed Forces. She said that hosting the two units of the Croatian Air Force and Air Defence in her professional environment and presenting the work of the Croatian delegation in the European Parliament was her way of showing the appreciation to them. <\/p>\n[nggallery id=2179]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0The crews of the firefighter forces and the \u201cWings of Storm\u201c Aerobatic Display Team of the 93rd Base of the Croatian Air Force and Air Defence visited the European Parliament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4698,"featured_media":36010,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[117],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n