site.btaRomania's President Approves Deployment of NATO Response Force on Romanian Territory in 2024

Romania’s Parliament has received a letter from President Klaus Iohannis informing the legislature that the head of State has approved the entry, stay or transit through Romanian territory of NATO Response Force to prepare or conduct military operations in 2024.

"The international environment is becoming less predictable against the backdrop of concurrent crises in 2023. In the context of great power strategic competition and the reassessment of geopolitical approaches to international politics, the scale of conflict at the regional and international levels has increased. In 2023, the war in Ukraine became debilitating, but its tortuous evolution has not led the Russian Federation to abandon the originally declared objectives of the invasion," the document quoted by Agerpres said.

Iohannis notes that in a situation where preconditions for a serious security crisis with possible consequences for Romania's national independence and sovereignty suddenly arise, "the North Atlantic Council may decide to deploy NATO’s Very High Readiness Joint Task Force on Romanian territory to neutralize the crisis and prevent its escalation."

The President said that in order for this to happen in the shortest time frame possible - within 72 hours – the force's deployment or transit through national territory must be approved in advance.

"In this regard, I inform the Romanian Parliament that I have approved the entry and stay in Romania of NATO’s high response capability force or their transit through national territory in order to prepare and/or conduct military operations in 2024, if necessary," Iohannis said in the letter.

The document will be included in the agenda of the next joint plenary session of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies of the Romanian Parliament, Digi24 notes.