Vasile Dincu, the Minister of Defense, announces the implementation of a very important new NATO decision that targets all of Romania, and this is because the measure to establish a new battle group in our country has finally been implemented, and it will be available starting from May in the country.
Vasile Dincu says that it will be coordinated by France, as a framework nation, and thanks to the deployment of these troops in our country, we should benefit from a much higher level of security in the context in which the war in Ukraine seems to be prolonged in this period.
"The NATO Battle Group (Battle Group Forward Presence - BGFP) in Romania is established, starting in May, by transforming the allied multinational elements within the NATO Response Force, deployed in our country.
Upon France's proposal to take over the role of the framework nation, the French battalion deployed in Romania, considered the spearhead of NATO's Very High Reaction Force (VJTF), will form the BGFP on the national territory, integrating, on a rotating basis, effectives of Belgium and the Netherlands.
The main forces of the BGFP will be deployed in the National Joint Training Center in Cincu (Brașov county) where they will carry out missions and training activities alongside structures of the Romanian Army. France will also deploy an air defense detachment to the National Air Defense Training Center in Cape Midia. I thank the French partners, especially Mrs. Florence Parly, Minister of Defense of the French Republic, the allied nations who will join this battle group.
But also to the NATO decision-makers who responded to the security needs in the Black Sea area, in the new context generated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The NATO Battle Group will lead to the increase of Romania's military cooperation with France and, implicitly, to the increase of the security of the Euro-Atlantic space on the eastern flank. Cooperation with strategic partners and the existence of relevant combat structures on the national territory contribute to increasing the reaction capacity in the context of the crisis in the Black Sea region.
The formation of the battle groups (Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary) is part of the wider set of measures adopted by NATO to strengthen the deterrence and defense posture in the medium and long term, as a result of the military conflict triggered by the Russian Federation in Ukraine."
