NATO will turn a Romanian Army brigade into a multinational one to increase the Alliance's presence in Southeast Europe, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced on Friday, at the beginning of a two-day NATO Summit in Warsaw.

"We have decided to have four battalions in the three Baltic countries and Poland and then we have decided to have what we call a tailored presence for the southeast region, and that will be built around a Romanian brigade but the thing is to turn this Romanian brigade into a multi-national force," the Secretary General said on July 8, in a press conference before the summit.

"So the idea is to have also NATO forces from different allies being part of this tailored presence in the southeast based around a Romanian brigade. And it will be under command of the multi-national division southeast which is a multi-national presence in Romania. So there's going to be a multi-national NATO presence in the southeast, in Romania and were going to make decisions on this at our summit," Stoltenberg explained.

However, he also hinted that the NATO Summit in Warsaw will not make a decision on an Allied fleet in the Black Sea, after Bulgaria expressed its opposition to such a project, which is backed by Romania and Turkey.

"We have already increased our presence in the southeast with more air policing and with more naval presence in the Black Sea. Warsaw is not the end, so we will continue to assess, continue to adapt and one of the areas where I see a need for continued adaptation is when it comes to our presence in the Black Sea region. So that will certainly be on our agenda also after Warsaw," Jens Stoltenberg said.

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, who is also present at the NATO Summit, said in a Facebook post that Jens Stoltenberg’s statement on Friday shows that Romania’s initiatives and objectives for this Summit are starting to take shape.

"Today, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that the Alliance would turn a Romanian brigade into a multinational one to reinforce NATO's presence in Southeast Europe and to stand against attacks from outside the Alliance. The statement confirms that the initiatives and objectives of Romania for the Summit take shape and will be included in the final documents of the meeting," reads the President’s post on Facebook.

Defense Minister Mihnea Motoc said in April that Romania aims to convince NATO to approve the rotational presence of a multinational brigade in the country and a joint fleet in the Black Sea at the Warsaw summit.

A two-day NATO Summit of Heads of State and Government started on Friday, July 8, in Warsaw, Poland.

A NATO military exercise will take place in the Black Sea between July 11 and July 17. Romania will send three ships, including the Regina Maria Frigate to take part in this multinational exercise, according to Mediafax.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: nato.int)