Eastern-flank nations discuss security: 'We are NATO'
PR dla Zagranicy
Grzegorz Siwicki
05.04.2019 08:00
Defence ministers from nine countries on the eastern edge of NATO were on Friday set to discuss security during a meeting in Poland.
Poland’s Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak. Photo: PAP/Piotr Nowak
Poland’s Mariusz Błaszczak and his counterparts from Romania, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were expected to get together in Helenów near Warsaw to discuss ways of strengthening NATO's eastern flank and joint defence initiatives as part of the European Union.
As the defence ministers started their two-day gathering in the Polish capital on Thursday, Poland’s Błaszczak said that the nine NATO eastern-flank nations, known as the Bucharest Nine (B9) group, have over the years proved their strength and showed how seriously they approach security.
“Over the years, we have moved from new NATO members to states without which one cannot imagine the alliance today," Błaszczak said.
"We are NATO," he added.
Błaszczak also said that the eastern-flank states, all of them former Soviet-bloc members, shared an experience of totalitarianism and enslavement in the 20th century when they were unable to decide about themselves.
Poland last month marked two decades since it became a member of the Western military alliance.
(gs/pk)
Source: IAR, TVP Info, PAP