President Iohannis: 'I believe we will have Battlegroup negotiated and finalized this spring'

Autor: Anca-Adriana Huza
Publicat: 12-04-2022 20:05

President Klaus Iohannis said on Tuesday that the Allied battlegroup on Romania's territory will be "negotiated and finalized" this spring.

"The battlegroup has been approved by NATO, and that has been the pleasant surprise at the NATO summit not many days ago. We have the decision, but the technicalities, the negotiations between allies will take a while until they are finalized. I believe that this spring we will have the battlegroup negotiated and finalized and I hope that Belgium will be a significant part of this battlegroup, but that will result from the negotiations," the president told the joint conference with Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace.

The Belgian Prime Minister also said that there are a number of technical issues that need to be resolved in connection with the NATO Battlegroup to be deployed in Romania, Agerpres.ro informs.

We need to see what the reality is, what the needs are. We have already significantly increased our posture on the Eastern Flank of the Alliance. My view is that the presence is a long-term one. However, if we find that NATO territory is under threat, obviously we can increase our presence very quickly, the capacity exists, in a coordinated manner at NATO level, if the issue of enhancing involvement is raised, we are definitely willing and ready to do so. What is important is that these things be carried out in a coordinated manner, and NATO has done an excellent job so far in coordinating all these measures, and if we are showing strength today it is because we are not alone. In today's world, for example, we are a country smaller than Romania, a small country is easy to attack, 30 countries is much harder. Today we understand the value of such a bloc, said Alexander De Croo.