Florence Parly, Minister of Defence of the French Republic, notified the Estonian Minister of Defence this week that a French company would be returning in 2019 to the NATO battalion stationed in Estonia. Minister of Defence Jüri Luik welcomed the decision by France to participate again next year in the NATO battlegroup stationed in Estonia.
Minister of Defence Luik said that the decision reflects Estonia's excellent cooperation with France and is a sign of solidarity and unity between the allies.
‘The return of the French in 2019 to the NATO battlegroup under the command of the United Kingdom is another sign of how seriously France, and more broadly the Alliance, takes the strengthening of the deterrence posture’, said the Minister of Defence.
According to Luik, defence related cooperation between Estonia and France is very close, with Estonia having participated in joint operations in the Central African Republic and Mali, and bilateral cooperation taking place in NATO, the European Union and the field of cyber defence.
Luik stated that the strength of the battlegroup stationed in Estonia lies in the previous close cooperation, within the framework of various military operations, by the contributing countries of Great Britain, Denmark, Iceland and France.
In addition, the return of France to the battlegroup in 2019 will provide an opportunity to strengthen cooperation capability based on the lessons learned in 2017 and will allow for the battlegroup to better integrate with the 1st Infantry Brigade.
According to Luik, their presence in Estonia offers our allies an excellent opportunity to train under a new set of conditions.
‘The French company jokingly referred to Estonia as the cold jungle. It is clear that a different type of terrain and training in winter conditions allows Allied units to put themselves to the test in an unusual environment’, said the Minister of Defence. Units from Great Britain and Denmark are currently focusing on winter training.
Great Britain and France also decided to intensify defence cooperation in the case of other operations, with Great Britain set to join French anti-terrorism operations in the Barkhane, in the Sahel region of Africa.
‘I am pleased with the growing level of cooperation between Great Britain and France – two of our important allies and brothers in arms.
The NATO battalions that were created at the 2016 NATO Warsaw Summit and stationed in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, are comprised of Framework Nations and contributing countries.
The NATO battlegroup stationed in Estonia is being led by the United Kingdom, with Iceland and Denmark currently serving as contributing countries, and France returning next year.
The battlegroup stationed at Tapa includes more than 1000 Allied soldiers.
In addition, France will be contributing to the NATO Baltic Air-Policing mission, replacing the Italian Air-Policing aircraft currently based at Ämari.
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