Croatia joins R-SOCC

Within the regular meeting of NATO defence ministers meeting held in Brussels on 13-14 February 2019 a signature ceremony for the Declaration on Regional Special Operations Component Command (R -SOCC) was held, gathering the defence ministers of Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia and Croatia (Assistant Minister for Defence Policy Petar Mihatov) alongiside NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller.

The four Allies – Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia and Croatia – and Austria as partner country will be jointly developing the R-SOCC Capability for small-scale NATO operations.

The command will significantly increase the member countries’ special force capabilities The non-permanent structure of the R-SOCC enables the allies to separately engage their own contributions while benefitting from its integrated structure in the event of its activation in missions and operations.

Welcoming the R-SOCC initiative the Deputy NATO Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller stated that it was an important progress in the building of the special force capability in the region and facilitated full integration of the element of a multinational regional command.

The new multinational command line will be developed in accordance with NATO standards, based on the expertise of NATO Special Forces Command in Mons, Belgium. In addition to its primary purpose of the R-SOCC in NATO- and the EU-led operations and missions, the Command may also be engaged in various multi-lateral missions, exercises and training.