The Nordic battlegroup is preparing … for 2011
(B2) They were representatives of five countries - Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Irish and Estonian - around the table, this Thursday, November 20, in Stockholm, at the headquarters of the Swedish armed forces. Objective: to organize the Nordic Battlegroup which will be permanent (again) for the European Union in the first semester of 2011, and will constitute the permanent rapid reaction force within two years. (Read : (exclusive) The schedule of battle groups for 2009 to 2013). This is the fourth meeting of the participants. And Colonel Jönsson who chaired the meeting hopes that with une fifth, just before Christmas, the main thing will be boukey and may be announced. That is to find the sufficient capacities and to determine exactly who does what. What we already know is that the format of the NBG 2011 should be slightly lower than that of 2008. Instead of 2800 men it should be around 2000. Sweden, which provided a large part of the effort (2300 out of 2800 ) has indeed slightly reduced its dispatch (1600 men out of a little over 2000 people), according to the first forecasts.
(NGV)