Luxembourg army's eFP02 contingent;
Credit: EMA
On 19 December 2017, members of the second contingent of the Luxembourg army "Enhanced Forward Presence" (eFP 02), returned to Luxembourg after two months abroad.
The returners, which included an officer, three non-commissioned officers, three corporals and fifteen soldiers, were welcomed home with a military ceremony after having spent more than two months in Lithuania. The ceremony took place at the Military Centre in Diekirch in the presence of the friends and relatives of the contingents.
Following the events in Ukraine, NATO took steps at the Wales Summit in 2014 and the Warsaw Summit in July 2016 to address the security concerns of allies. In Warsaw, NATO committed to ensuring a multinational presence on the Alliance's eastern flank as part of the "Enhanced Forward Presence" which provides for the deployment of a multinational battalion in each of the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) and Poland.
In the second half of 2017, the Grand Duchy participated in the deployment of NATO troops to Lithuania. The Luxembourg army has thus been part of the multinational battalion led by Germany. Consisting of 22 Luxembourgish soldiers, a "transport" platoon had been deployed since July 2017 for a period of six months. The peloton has since been integrated into a Belgian transport company.
