Luxembourg Armed Forces Return from eFP 01 Duty in Lithuania

On Saturday 7 October 2017, members of the first contingent of the Luxembourg Armed Forces "Enhanced Forward Presence" (eFP 01), including an officer, three non-commissioned officers, three corporals and fifteen soldiers, returned to  Luxembourg after spending three months in Lithuania.

The welcome-back ceremony took place at the airport in Findel in the presence of Luxembourg's Secretary of State for Defense, Francine Closener, as well as relatives of members of the contingent.

Following the events in Ukraine, NATO took steps at the Welsh Summit in 2014 and the Warsaw Summit in July 2016 to address the security concerns of the Allies. In Warsaw, NATO is committed to ensuring a multinational presence on the east side of the Alliance. This presence is part of the "Enhanced Forward Presence", which provides for the deployment of a multinational battalion in each Baltic country (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) and Poland.

The Grand Duchy is participating in the second half of 2017 in the deployment of NATO troops in Lithuania. The Luxembourg army is thus part of the multinational battalion under German control, of which Belgian and Dutch military are also members. Composed of 22 soldiers from Luxembourg, a transport platoon has been deployed since July 2017 for a period of six months.