Romania’s
\nSupreme Defence Council agreed earlier this week to set up an
\ninter-institutional working group for the creation of a multinational NATO
\nbrigade in Romania. This a complicated process and involves, among others,
\nensuring the proper conditions, in keeping with allied standards, for receiving
\nforeign soldiers, as well as intense military and diplomatic talks. At least
\nsix NATO allies have responded favourably, but no concrete action has been
\ntaken. What is known so far is that Poland will send a company and Bulgaria
\naround 400 soldiers. Romania’s defence minister Mihnea Motos provided some
\nadditional information on Thursday:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The new
\nmultinational brigade will be based around an existing Romanian brigade. I
\ncannot reveal where this is located, but it exists. Moreover, it is training at
\na high level in keeping with NATO standards and is equipped with modern combat
\ntechnology. The brigade has more than 3,000 soldiers.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
As stated by
\npresident Klaus Iohannis, the authorities in Bucharest have ambitious plans and
\nthe date proposed by the Romanian military for the creation of the
\nmultinational brigade is March or April next year. The NATO concept for
\nadvanced security on its eastern flank, which was recently agreed on in Warsaw
\nand which directly affects Romania, also provides for the consolidation of
\nallied sea and air presence in the Black Sea area. The recognition of the Black
\nSea’s increased strategic importance is a first, says Romania’s foreign
\nminister Lazar Comanescu:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
It is for the
\nfirst time that the Baltic Sea, the North Atlantic area and the Black Sea are
\ngiven the same treatment as areas of strategic importance for the security of
\nthe entire Alliance.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Aware of the
\nneed to tighten security in this extremely complicated geo-political climate,
\nRomania will continue efforts to provide funding for its army. It plans, for
\nexample, to allocate 2% of its GDP to defence by 2017 and maintain this level
\nof funding for the following ten years. Almost a third of these funds are
\nallocated this year to the provisioning and modernisation of the army. A considerable
\namount of money will be poured into the naval forces, in particular the
\nmodernisation of Romania’s two frigates and the possible purchase of multi-role
\ncorvettes. There are also plans to launch a number of agreements on the
\npurchase of different types of vehicles for the land forces, while continuing
\nefforts to provide the latter with high-performing IT and communications
\nsystems. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Romania seeks to establish a multinational brigade on its territory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":69410,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[13794],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-69409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-nato"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n