Defence minister Mircea Dusa said that he would like to have the first NATO command centre settled in Romania in June. As for the regional headquarters, the Division Command, the Romanian minister says it will be operational in two years.
While in Cluj on Monday, Dusa informed that the Romanian side began preparations to have the two centres operational, as well as regarding the financial and technical assessments.
“Romania has achieved a special result in Brussels from the military and national security point of view (…) I want that the NATO Force Integration Unit (NFIU) to be operational in June,” Dusa said.
The minister explained that a location for such command is yet to be established, but added an evaluation is in full swing.
As far as the Division Command — such type of command will only exist in Romania and Poland — is concerned, Dusa stressed a range of approvals for setting up this Division Command will be issued at the NATO Summit in Warsaw next year, but its achievement will take longer, meaning two years.
‘Such commands are of a command-control type, which ensure the planning and commissioning of the missions, so that when needed, in a crisis situation, those rapid reaction forces approved at the ministers’ meeting might take action within 48 hours. We are already discussing such locations and tomorrow (Tuesday — editor’s note), together with the General Staff head, we’ll see which are the most efficient from a military point of view and from the viewpoint of material expenditure. It is normal that we should have a command in that place where we already have a structure, where we have command-control elements, where there are conditions for them to function. Evaluations are under way to also establish the amounts of money’, Dusa underscored.
According to the Romanian Defence minister, part of the money for the NFIU centre will come from the Romanian Defence Ministry’s budget and the rest from the NATO’s joint funds.