Romanian recommendations for NATO’s strategy

Attending the NATO Foreign Ministers meeting in Turkey, Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu recommended an integrated strategy targeting both NATO’s southern and eastern vicinities.

The recommendation comes against the backdrop of mounting instability in Northern Africa and the Middle East over the course of last year, which is affecting the entire Europe.

“NATO and its partners should identify the vulnerabilities and needs of each state, as part of a pro-active approach. We should also work closer with the EU, which shares our concerns. I recall Romania’s proposal, namely to create a permanent dialogue platform jointly with NATO’s partners and their neighbors and to boost political dialogue.

"Additionally, we want to strengthen the capabilities of our partners, particularly in what regards hybrid warfare and related challenges, to set up security and defense bodies that should be effective and cope with the numerous challenges. Therefore, it’s a wider package, which we hope will be adopted at the upcoming NATO summit in Warsaw in 2016”, Aurescu told Radio Romania.

The Romanian Foreign Minister added that the recommendation was grounded also on the need to consolidate the strategic position of the Black Sea area, whose security has been affected by the crisis in Ukraine.

“I believe this is a self-explanatory objective, as the Black Sea lies at the junction of NATO’s eastern and southern vicinities, and is thus the most vulnerable area from a strategic point of view. The developments in our immediate vicinity, the crisis in Ukraine and its consequences have affected the strategic balance of the Black Sea. Therefore it is only natural for this area to become one of NATO’s strategic points”, Bogdan Aurescu said.

On the other hand, Minister Aurescu pointed out that Romania supports NATO in its efforts to achieve Initial Operational Capability of its anti-ballistic defense system by the 2016 NATO summit to be held in Poland.

All these measures are aimed at preparing a long-term response to the variety and complexity of challenges NATO is facing.