"Highest level of security" for Romania

Back from the US, President Traian Băsescu announced signing the agreement regarding the anti-missile shield.

According to it, the location of the anti-missile shield components on the territory of Romania is raising the level of security to one without any precedent for Romania.

"For the first time, Romania is protected by an anti-missile system, which puts its citizens, institutions and economy in complete safety."

In this contect, Traian Băsescu gave assurances that the agreement "does not contain secret annexes" and insisted upon the citizens’ right to have access to its contents.

"The agreement has nothing secret in it. I want to remove from the start any speculation regarding secret annexes. I am hoping that in the next ten days we will convene with the State Department that the document is made public either in Romania and the US."

"As soon as we agree with the American partners that the agreement can be made public, the chief negotiator of this agreement, Secretary State General Bogdan Aurescu, will make public all the explanations on each clause of the agreement", the head of the state stated.

The President of Romania insisted on specifying that the location of the elements of the anti-missile shield in Romania was in the interest of Europe and of the US.

The head of state said that the objective of the construction was that in time it became part of the anti-missile NATO system.

Promises to facilitate access to the Visa Waver programme

Another document signed during the visit in the US is the Joint Declaration on the Strategic Partnership for the 21st century.

According to the president, the document sets the guidelines for the partnership for the next decades.

Moreover, the Declaration for Strategic Partnership mentions the fact that the President of the US promises to support the amendment of the law for granting visas.

"The objective we have achieved through this document is that it equilibrates the military partnership, the security partnership, with many other areas of common interest and I will mention a few: one is, of course, Visa Waiver, and even in the Strategic Partnership Declaration for the 21st century it is mentioned the fact that President Barack Obama takes on his shoulders the amendment of the law for granting visas", Traian Băsescu added.


Translated by: Manuela Stancu
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University