The Supreme Council for National Defence (CSAT) decided on Tuesday to set up an inter-institution workgroup on the multinational NATO brigade in Romania.
President Klaus Iohannis announced the decision after the CSAT sitting. “We have decided to setup a workgroup that will start the preparation of all documents tomorrow, under the supervision of the national security advisor of the Presidential Administration (Ion Oprisor — editor’s note). The approaches are multiple, some of them also very complicated. Starting from necessary legislative clarifications and down to drawing up a calendar showing very clearly what steps are practically taken and when to setup these initiatives. An inter-institution workgroup is needed, who will focus in the near future firstly on drafting a work agenda and a calendar. We’re rather ambitious, and our military have proposed March or April as the period for setting up this multinational brigade — which means declaring its initial readiness, in specialist terms,” he explained.
According to the president, the CSAT sitting focused on the steps necessary in Romania to implement the decisions of the NATO Summit in Warsaw.
“We’re talking about providing the conditions for the support of the host country, in accordance with NATO standards, and about active approaches on military and diplomatic levels, in Allied debates and talks with the military authorities of NATO. This means we’re the host state for the multinational brigade, and we have to prepare adequately to welcome troops coming from abroad and integrate them in the multinational brigade structure. On the other hand, approaches to other allies mean negotiations to persuade them to send troops to the multinational brigade and to the training initiative,” Iohannis detailed.
The head of state asserted there are already some favourable answers about the participation in the multinational brigade, but not all of them have turned concrete — from at least six allies. Poland will send one company, and Bulgaria some 400 troops to the brigade. “Others are interested, and we have negotiations I can qualify as excellent. To conclude, we’ll have enough troops for this brigade from several allies,” he said. More…