On Thursday, the Belgian and Luxembourgish Ministers of Defence, Ludivine Dedonder and François Bausch, joined forces to sign a Declaration of Intent regarding the creation of a bi-national battalion.
The battalion will have a seat in Arlon by 2030, with further branches in Diekirch and in Marche-en-Famenne, Belgium.
Deputy Prime Minister Bausch said the signature of the declaration represented a new chapter in the field of defence. Both armies would see efficiency and effectiveness improved through the cooperation between the two countries. The agreement will also make it possible to increase interoperability between our armies, which has become all the more important at NATO level since the events in Ukraine, he added.
The first step towards the binational agreement began in summer 2021, when Dedonder and Bausch signed a joint letter declaring their intention to establish the Belgian-Luxembourgish battalion. In January 2022, they created the “Ermesinde” working group in order to develop the concept for the battalion, prior to the declaration of intent signed this week.
