Enrico Credendino

Since Italy had offered to serve as the operation’s framework nation, Italian Rear Admiral Enrico Credendino was chosen as the Operation Commander, and the Joint Operations Headquarters settled in Rome (See Italy, "Designing Sophia – A European effort "). 

Enrico Credendino has headed the European operation EUNAVFOR MED Operation Sophia from May 2015 to February 2020. In June 2016, Credendino warned that humanitarian boats rescuing migrants just off the Libyan coast would contribute to incentivize departures. He said that NGOs rescuing migrants had to abide by international law. He said that “we must regulate what happens at sea to avoid traffickers from thinking they can get away with sending migrants out to sea.” He added that rescues had to be coordinated “in an intelligent manner, saving human beings but also deterring traffickers. 

Enrico Credendino has headed the European operation EUNAVFOR MED Operation Sophia from May 2015 to February 2020. In January 2016, Sophia Operation Commander Credendino (Italian Navy) sent a secret report to the Chairman of the Political and Security Committee, Walter Stevens. In this report, Credendino pushed for a transition from operating in the high seas (phase 2A) to operating in Libyan Territorial Waters (phase 2B). He also specifically advocated to include the training of the Libyan coastguard in their mandate. This proposition was framed in terms of being an “exit strategy” to “prevent irregular migration taking place from [Libyan] shores” and to secure the deal that the EU would be allowed to operate in Libyan high seas. As a result, the LYCG and Sophia’s Italian Operation Commander Enrico Credendino signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 23 August 2016 (See Italy, “Training of the Libyan Coastguard through Operation Sophia”). In his farewell speech Admiral Credendino said: “After more than four and a half years in Command of Sophia the number of migrants leaving Libya to reach Europe has fallen by 90% compared to 2016 and, thanks to the training provided by Operation Sophia, the Libyan Coast Guard is now able to meet its functions in his area of jurisdiction” 

Enrico Credendino has headed the European operation EUNAVFOR MED Operation Sophia from May 2015 to February 2020. On 23 March 2017, the Standing Committee IV of the Senate agreed on conducting a fact-finding investigation on the contribution of the Italian military to the control of migration flows in the Mediterranean and the impact of the activities of NGOs. In the context of this investigation, several NGOs representatives were auditioned, as well as military representatives but also Enrico Credendino and Fabrice Leggeri. (See Italy, “The delegitimization of the NGOs and the Code of Conduct”).
As the commander of Operation Sophia, Enrico Credendino has been in contact with a large range of suspects including Fabrice Leggeri, Federico Soda, Federica Mogherini and we can assume that he has been in contact with many more. He has also been in contact with a large range of Libyan authorities including Abdelhamid Tumiya, the Libyan Coast Guard Commander, Colonel Tariq Shanbour, the coast security Colonel and Fayez Al-Sirraj, the Head of the Presidential Council and General Haftar.