Geoana: NATO battlegroups - operational shortly; the group in Romania - the most advanced

The four NATO-approved battlegroups will become fully operational "in a relatively short period of time", with the one in Romania being "the most advanced," NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana told Agerpres on Thursday.NATO has approved the creation of four battlegroups in Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia."They are already in an initial phase of becoming operational and will become fully operational in a relatively short period of time. We'll thus have eight battlegroups on the Eastern Flank, four existing ones in the Baltic area and Poland, plus four in our region - this, if you will, is a decision for the very near term," the official said.Regarding a permanent military presence on the Eastern Flank, Mircea Geoana spoke about NATO's decision on Thursday to appoint NATO military commanders "to present them with options for a more robust, permanent and sustainable military presence on the Eastern Flank. Based on this military opinion, NATO leaders will approve medium- and long-term decisions at the Madrid Summit."He reminded that there are already activated Defense Plans for the countries on the Eastern Flank, including Romania or Turkey."Today we have 40,000 Allied troops under the command of the NATO military, as a result of the activation of these plans, and also in the medium and long term, we will make decisions on missile defense systems, cyber defense, in general another quality and a another depth of NATO's presence on the Eastern Flank. "As to the battlegroups becoming operational, the Deputy Secretary General of NATO appreciated that "it is rather a technical issue at this time"."The composition of this battlegroup is known, its composition regarding the nations that announced their participation, some of them have today reconfirmed, obviously, France, the framework country, but also the Netherlands and other countries have announced their intention to participate. So I anticipate a relatively short period of time, and I am convinced that the Romanian military commanders, who are highly respected in NATO, will contribute to a very short timetable. I would say the battlegroup in Romania is the most advanced of the four decided and set up by our leaders," he added.