Romania the Eastern Flank: Together for a stronger eastern flank
A brief look at the latest efforts to strengthen the Eastern Flank of the North Atlantic Alliance
Agenția Media a Armatei, 25.06.2025, 14:05
It has been more than three years since Romania has been hosting one of NATO’s battle groups deployed to our country so that the alliance may strengthen its eastern flank. As early as 2016 Romania called for strengthening the NATO’s military presence in the region and in 2022 the alliance decided the formation of four more similar groups in Slovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania, which joined the already existing ones in Poland and the Baltic States. France is leading the battle group in Romania, and the French army has the largest number of troops deployed to Cincu training ground, in central Romania. Lieutenant Pierre is one of the officers of the French contingent stationed in Romania and believes the effectiveness of NATO standards can be successfully assessed in suchlike missions. He told our reports, quote: “I felt great as early as I arrived here. It is very interesting to have the opportunity of working together, of improving the ability to interact and have interoperability. I had the chance of working with Romanian soldiers, infantry troops and I realized they are tough soldiers with a lot of determination and effectiveness on the training ground. It is really interesting to see the effectiveness of NATO standards and communication in English. We’ve got the desired results and it was a really interesting experience. It’s a pleasure to be here.”
Starting last autumn, Spain deployed troops to join the NATO battle group in Romania. Private Maraver, a marine who comes from a family with military tradition, is at his first mission abroad. He told us: “Our stay here in Romania is a pleasant one. We got to train together but also to have good time together. We are participating in joint missions, tactical drills and other specific exercises. It’s my first mission abroad, never been in suchlike missions before. However, I come from a family of soldiers and somehow I am used to it. We are participating in this mission as allies and these actions are meant to prove that NATO can rapidly gather allies thus proving the force it has. I have participated in a couple of joint exercises with Romanian troops and all I can say is that we accomplished our mission in an impeccable manner. We helped each other out. I can say the Romanians are real professional soldiers, they are tough and they know their job very well.”
Also part of the NATO Battle Group Romania there are troops from Luxembourg and rotational contingents from Belgium and the Netherlands. Sven is sergeant in the Belgian army specialized in operations: “Training opportunities are really huge. It’s not my first time in a mission like this, I worked with contingents from other countries before, but it’s my first cooperation with French and Spanish troops. The Romanian servicemen are very polite and we are working very well with them, we have an exchange of expertise and share our experiences from previous exercises. We’ve had no problem until now and everything goes according to the plans. We enjoy mutual respect because we are allies and I believe it’s essential to have this respect. There are no preferences here, we are just allies.” The NATO Battle Group Forward Presence (BGFP) in Romania has the size of a battalion, roughly one thousand servicemen, but can be beefed up to the structure of a brigade, which means nearly five thousand troops.
(bill)
