On 30-31 March, the foreign ministers of the Bucharest Nine (B9) countries gathered in Łódź. Top diplomats of NATO’s eastern flank countries (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia) meet regularly to discuss key issues for the security of the region and the North Atlantic Alliance as a whole.
The Łódź meeting focused on assistance to Ukraine, a country fighting the brutal Russian aggression, as the most important issue from the participants’ point of view. They agreed that the war has led to a dramatic change in European security and that further action is needed within NATO to improve defence and deterrence. The B9 countries are determined to reinforce the Alliance and enhance the transatlantic cooperation. Close cooperation with the US and its presence in Europe are the key factors that ensure stability.
“Poland attaches great importance to the Bucharest format. In a complex security situation in Europe, the strong, unanimous voice of the eastern flank should be particularly clear,” stressed the Polish foreign minister Zbigniew Rau. “We believe that through B9 consultations our region contributes to strengthening the entire Alliance and the transatlantic partnership,” he added.
An initiative by Poland and Romania, the Bucharest Nine (B9) was officially launched with a meeting of presidents of the region’s countries in Warsaw in 2015. It was designed as a forum for exchanging views and coordinating positions on the security of NATO’s eastern flank countries (Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Romania, and Bulgaria). The last B9 meeting at the level of foreign ministers was held in Bratislava in 2022. The previous B9 summit took place on 22 February 2023 in Warsaw, where, at the invitation of the Polish President, US President Joe Biden and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg were also in attendance.
