DefMin Dincu, on France-led NATO battlegroup: We are at fairly advanced stage

The Minister of National Defense, Vasile Dincu, declared on Tuesday evening that the preparations for the organization of the NATO battlegroup in our country, to be led by France, are in a fairly advanced stage and it is hoped that its configuration will be completed by the summit of the North Atlantic Alliance in Madrid in June.

"We are at a fairly advanced stage. France, the framework nation, is the one that makes, so to speak, the commitment, it is the one that invites, of course we negotiate as well, we also support them in this respect. We have already established to a large extent the details, the inspections have been carried out. We had the French inspections for quite some time , because they are a also framework nation for the other battlegroup, from Mihail Kogalniceanu [military base], on the European line of, say, defense. We believe that next month, before this very important summit in Madrid [NATO summit], at the end of June, we will have the full configuration of this battlegroup. So far, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and there are other countries that have communicated their intentions, but we have not yet established the details of what kind of forces they will bring, how many people and so on. However, this is the matter handled mainly by the framework nation, France. And they communicate to us and we constantly communicate that they are on the right track in terms of organization," Vasile Dincu told private broadcaster Digi 24. AGERPRES