Based on the NATO Readiness Action Plan and the decisions made at the Alliance Summit in Warsaw in 2016, which relate to the concept of defence and deterrence, as well as the contribution to stability and security outside the territory of the Alliance, the Allies made a decision for the establishment of the so-called enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) in the northwest of the Alliance, as well as the Tailored Forward Presence, to strengthen the presence in the southeast of NATO. They represent the largest reinforcement of the Alliance collective defence in a generation, and demonstrate solidarity, determination and ability to defend its territory and citizens.
The enhanced Forward Presence was first established in 2017, with the creation of four battalion-sized multinational battlegroups in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. These battlegroups, led by the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany and the United States, are of adequate size and combat power. They demonstrate the strength of the transatlantic bond and make it clear that an attack on one ally would be considered an attack on the entire Alliance.
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, at the summit in Madrid in June 2022, the Allies agreed to a fundamental change in the concept of deterrence and defence of NATO, which includes strengthening the forward defence, upgrading the battlegroups in the eastern part of the Alliance to brigade level, transforming the NATO response force and increasing the number of high readiness forces to over 300,000 with the additional establishment of four more multinational battle groups in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. This brings the total number of multinational battle groups to eight, and they span the entire eastern flank of NATO – from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south.
In accordance with these decisions, NATO’s enhanced Vigilance Activities (eVA) began, which refer to the deployment of multinational battlegroups in Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia, each led by a framework nation complementary to the forces of the host countries.
Our contribution in the eVA mission started from the end of November and the beginning of December 2022 with deployment of two platoons, one to Romania, a mission led by France, one to Bulgaria, a mission led by Italy. There, together with members of the allied armed forces, they are an integral part of the collective deterrence and defence system.
The participation of the members of the Army of the Republic of North Macedonia within the NATO missions eFP and eVA in Latvia, Bulgaria and Romania is based on the decisions of the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia. Our contribution to the Canadian-led eFP mission began in June 2022 with a CBRN unit, as well as an artillery unit commencing operations from December 2022 within the Slovenian contingent engaged in the Operation eVA.