Simplified military mobility procedures underway

Fourteen members of the European Union (EU) have signed an agreement to simplify military mobility procedures, the Lithuanian Ministry of Defence announced on 14 May.

The programme will aim to simplify cross-border military movements among participating countries over the next two years and to develop an advance permit system, similar to diplomatic permits for flights. The managing committee of the programme, chaired by Lithuania, will supervise the implementation and provide guidelines to subordinate expert tasks forces which will develop technical requirements.

To date, participating countries include Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Spain, Croatia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Sweden and Romania.

Raimundas Karoblis, Lithuanian Minister of National Defence, said: ‘As the ones who hold the eastern border of NATO, we find it particularly important that allied troops with equipment are able to come to our help in case of a crisis without facing bureaucratic procedural obstacles when crossing EU states’ borders.

'When the agreement we have just signed is implemented, allies crossing the borders of the signatory countries will have to comply with the same rules, follow the same procedures, and meet the same timeline.’