Prague, Dec 17 (CTK) – The Visegrad Four (V4) countries or the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia will again offer their joint battlegroup to the European Union (EU) in 2019, Slovak Defence Ministry state secretary Milos Koterec said after the talks of the V4 defence ministers on Thursday.
The group will be on alert in the first half of 2016 already.
The Czech Republic will send more than 800 soldiers to it, including signallers, combat engineers and special forces.
“We have been preparing for the participation in the battlegroup for two years,” said Czech Defence Minister Martin Stropnicky (ANO).
The whole contingent would be comprised of over 3,300 troops, Hungarian Defence Minister Istvan Simicsko said.
The battlegroup is put together to cover the whole spectrum of the military needs, Stropnicky added.
Poland will have the strongest share in it. Hungary will deploy more than 600 troops, including combat engineers, logistics experts and special force troops. Slovakia will send mainly a mechanised company and a company specialised in radiation, chemical and biological protection.
Stropnicky noted that the battlegroup had never been used as yet and that it would be a reserve force on alert.
However, he said he can imagine its part being deployed. He also confirmed that the joint unit could be deployed in the future.
