President of the Senate Nicolae Ciuca said on Friday at the ceremony organized by the 26th Infantry Battalion Neagoe Basarab from Craiova, on the 30th anniversary of the unit's reorganization, that the Romanian Army, a good period of time, has not benefited from the necessary funding to be able to have a coherent pace of endowment and equipment, and the new endowments give it a glimmer of hope that it can truly fulfill its sacred duty of defending the country.

"For a good period of time, the Romanian Army has not benefited from the necessary funding to be able to have a coherent pace of endowment and equipment. Since 2015-2017, we have begun to feel the effects of a budget that will allow us to talk about technology, new equipment, a different way of thinking, of planning everything related to the evolution of the Romanian army. (...) Before the endowment, we talked a lot about interoperability: it was an interoperability of procedures, it was an interoperability of the way we thought, but in terms of endowment and mode of action we could not realize this desire. Here we are today, when these combat vehicles, Patriot Systems, HIMARS Systems, F16 aircraft, the other equipment that are in our possession and that are about to enter our possession, give us a glimmer of hope that the Romanian army can achieve enhanced capabilities and can truly fulfill its sacred duty of defending the country, of ensuring the security of Romania's citizens," said Nicolae Ciuca, former commander of the 26th Infantry Battalion Neagoe Basarab between February 2001 and October 2004.

Nicolae Ciuca recalled moments when he was commander of the 26th Infantry Battalion "Neagoe Basarab" and presented results of the unit's activity, nicknamed the Red Scorpions.

"I am very happy to be back today among the family of the 26th Battalion Neagoe Basarab and I will allow myself, General, to use the phrase so well known in the Romanian army, and not only, 'Red Scorpions', because it is a very easily recognizable symbol and everywhere I have been in the world, those I have met have remembered that they were together in missions in theatres of operations, in the 14 foreign missions on three continents. I came here with excitement to express my gratitude for all that the 26th Infantry Battalion Neagoe Basarab has meant to me, to all of us who are here today, in uniform, active and in reserve, with gratitude for those who founded this unit 30 years ago, and it was not easy at that time (...) I came to recall everything that happened when the 26th Infantry Battalion Neagoe Basarab was nominated as part of the strategic reserve for SFOR and KFOR and what the efforts at the General Staff level were (...)," the Senate president went on to say.

The former commander emphasized that all the missions in which the Battalion took part over the years - from peacekeeping missions to the completion of missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and now with units continuing missions in the Western Balkans - are the calling card of the Romanian Army.AGERPRES(RO - author: Maria Mitrica, editor: George Onea; EN - editor: Simona Iacob)