The Diplomat
The Minister of Defence, Margarita Robles, met with her Romanian counterpart Angel Tildar on Wednesday, as part of the informal meeting of European Union Defence Ministers, and confirmed to him that Spain is determined to maintain its military presence in Romania as part of NATO’s eastern flank, adapting it as necessary.
At the meeting, the two ministers reviewed the objectives of the Spanish Presidency of the European Union in the area of security and defence, missions in Africa and Spain’s contribution to the security of NATO’s eastern flank and the Black Sea. The minister reiterated Spain’s support for the European Union’s efforts in the Sahel and its willingness to continue participating in missions in Africa, as long as they are maintained.
Robles also met with the United Nations Assistant Secretary General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, to whom she stressed the “valuable contribution” of the Spanish Armed Forces to the objectives of the United Nations, not only through their commitment to the missions in Lebanon and Colombia, but also through other types of contributions, such as the online course, in Spanish, for training Gender Advisor in Operations, which has more than 3,300 students from 23 countries enrolled.