French soldiers stationed as part of the NATO mission at the Cinque military base complained of “deplorable” conditions there, speaking to French investigative website Mediapart about insufficient toilets, unsanitary conditions in some areas, little food and inadequate heating in tents, according to Digi 24.

Their reports caused a scandal in France, where the deputies of the Rebel France party took up the topic, which they will discuss in the National Assembly.

French soldiers stationed at the Cinque military base have told the French investigative publication Mediapart about the conditions there, which they consider indecent, writes Mediapart journalist Justine Brabant.

“I’m hungry, I’m cold, I’m sleepy”

The French Minister of the Armed Forces visited a military base in Romania on Thursday together with his Romanian counterpart Angel Tilvar. According to information obtained by Mediapart, the French soldiers were ordered not to show up for the visit, except for a few who were selected, the journalist also reported on Twitter.

She says that the French military would be unhappy with the insufficient number of toilets, the prefabricated structures that were sent dirty from Mali, the garbage that was not removed. “It’s a ‘mess’, with rats and dogs, the soldiers say,” notes Justine Brabant, along with a photo to back up her account.

“I’m hungry, I’m cold, I’m sleepy,” summed up a soldier from the Aigle mission on October 27 in a message sent to a relative on WhatsApp, Brabant claims.

What are they saying in the French General Staff and the Ministry of Defense of Romania

In response to a request for information sent to the French General Staff, the agency said it was normal to have “rural” conditions at the start of an operation and assured that they had improved and would continue to improve.

According to the investigative journalist, French soldiers and their relatives say that eight months have passed since the troops were deployed, and this is not a country at war with severe logistical constraints.

The General Staff of the French army admits, according to Mediapart, that there are some problems: power outages, saying that “the renewal of the power supply system is planned”; dishes that “qualitatively and quantitatively improve”; of hygiene, saying “new toilets have been ordered,” Digi 24 reports.

The Ministry of National Defense sent that “the responsibilities of camping, feeding livestock and providing relevant services (…) at the Chinka location have been fully taken over by the French side”:

• “According to allied procedures, the responsibilities for camping, feeding livestock and providing related services (water supply, energy supply, waste disposal, etc.) at the Cincu location were fully assumed by the French side.
• As the host country, the Romanian side has provided all the elements requested by the representatives of the French army and other allied contingents and will act quickly and in the future to provide assistance and support as requested, in accordance with the national framework legislation and with the commitments that will taken over by a technical agreement to be concluded between the Romanian side and the French side.”

As a result of the article’s investigation, French LFI (Rebellious France) MPs Bastien Lachaux and Aurelien Saintoule informed the head of the National Assembly’s defense committee that the Assembly “take up this subject”.

France leads the NATO Battle Group in Romania, created since May, and will increase its military presence in our country, in particular with Leclerc battle tanks.

Following France’s offer to assume the role of a framework nation, the French battalion deployed in Romania, which is considered the main focus of NATO’s Very High Response Force (VJTF), is now forming a Collective Defense Battle Group (CDBG) in the area, which is being nationally integrated, on a rotational basis. the results of Belgium and the Netherlands. CDBG main forces are deployed at the National Combined Training Center in Cinque, where they carry out missions and training activities together with the structures of the Romanian Army.