General Yves De Kermabon is an Associate Fellow within the Global Fellowship Initiative of the GCSP. General Yves de Kermabon held various senior positions of command and management between 1972 when he finished at the French Military Academy (Saint Cyr) and 2004. These positions include numerous missions in operations in Chad and the Central African Republic with the French army, in Cambodia with the UN, in former Yugoslavia with UNPROFOR and IFOR and in Kosovo with KFOR. He was also Human Resources Director of the French Army, Military Adviser to the Cabinet of the French Minister of Defence and teacher at the War College.
From 2004 to 2005 he served as Commander of the NATO Force in Kosovo. In this role, he was leading the NATO command in charge of the stabilization of Kosovo in close cooperation with the international community, in particular the United Nations, OSCE and the EU and also political, military and diplomatic leaders from all contributing states.
From 2005 to 2007, General de Kermabon was the Commander of the Rapid Reaction Corps, a multinational headquarter of 420 staff from 14 different contributing countries. This structure enables a multinational force of 50,000 soldiers to intervene during a military operation, in a country at war or one in crisis.
From 2007 to 2010, General de Kermabon was Head of EULEX Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo, a Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) mission of the EU, with the objective of helping new Kosovo institutions set up rule of law in a state compatible with European norms.
General Yves de Kermabon is currently Special Advisor to the Executive Secretary General of the European External Action Service (EEAS) for the CSDP, Special Advisor to NATO, and Referent for the Institute for Higher National Defence Studies (IHEDN) for auditor training sessions. He also chairs and organises conferences in France and abroad, to the benefit of the European Union in particular.