Ministrul afacerilor externe Bogdan Aurescu participă duminică, 15 mai 2022, la reuniunea informală a miniștrilor de externe din statele NATO, care se desfășoară la Berlin. Este a patra întâlnire a miniștrilor de externe din statele NATO în cursul acestui an, două având caracter extraordinar.
Agenda discuțiilor de astăzi include teme de actualitate și interes sporit pentru Alianță, cu accent pe deciziile anticipate pentru Summitul NATO, în special în ceea ce privește Noul Concept Strategic al NATO, politica NATO a „Ușilor Deschise”, implicațiile agresiunii militare ilegale a Rusiei împotriva Ucrainei asupra securității euroatlantice și, pe acest fond, adaptarea consistentă a posturii NATO de descurajare și apărare.
Prezentăm, mai jos, declarațiile de presă, în limba engleză, susținute de ministrul Bogdan Aurescu înaintea sesiunilor de discuții de duminică, 15 mai 2022:
Good morning!
It is a very important meeting that we have these days in Berlin, because this meeting, which is the first ever informal Foreign Ministers’ meeting of NATO countries, is setting the pace and also providing substance for the preparation of the Summit in Madrid, in June.
And, as you know very well, last night we have discussed about the perspectives of accession for Finland and Sweden, together with our colleagues from these countries.
I have expressed Romania’s firm position in favor of a smooth process of accession of the two countries, because, on one hand, Romania is a firm supporter of the Open Doors Policy, which has a lot of benefits for the Alliance as a whole – we know very well, from our own experience in the process of accession, how important it was for the reform in Romania.
At the same time, the accession of the two countries, in our view, will consolidate the Alliance as a whole, and we think that, if Sweden and Finland become members of the Alliance, the deterrence will be more effective and the defense will be consolidated. So, all in all, NATO would become stronger.
And we have discussed, of course, various problems that one colleague and Ally has as far as these two countries are concerned, and we hope that this situation will be solved through direct dialogue between the three countries and, as you know already, there were contacts, including last night, between them.
Today, we will discuss about the situation in Ukraine and the impact on the Euro-Atlantic security as a whole. As you know, the parameters of the security architecture in Europe and in the Euro-Atlantic space were very much affected by the illegal war which was started by Russia against Ukraine. And our duty is to, on one hand, reinforce the Euro-Atlantic security and, on the other, to safeguard the rules-based international order.
For Romania, the first priority is to consolidate the posture of deterrence and defense on the Eastern Flank, in a balanced and unitary manner, from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, especially in the South, in the Black Sea, where Romania is located. And this is a very important matter for the Summit in Madrid to decide.
Of course, we will discuss about how to further support Ukraine. Romania was very much involved in a multidimensional effort to support Ukraine’s effort to defend itself, to support the refugees coming in Romania – almost 1,000,000 people crossed our borders and the humanitarian effort was huge. At the same time, we are supporting the economy of Ukraine by facilitating the transfer of Ukrainian goods, including grains, through our ports, on the Danube and at the Black Sea through the Constanța Harbor, which is the largest port in the Black Sea, towards other destinations.
But we have to discuss also how to support politically and concretely more other partners, like the Republic of Moldova and Georgia, who are also under pressure because of the consequences of the war Russia has started in Ukraine.
And last but not least, discussing about the new Strategic Concept is very important, because this will be the first and the most important deliverable of the Madrid Summit. The Strategic Concept will define the guidelines of the Alliance for the next decade, at least for the next decade, and what we want is an ambitious new Strategic Concept, anchored in the reality that we are facing nowadays, which is defined and shaped by the Russian aggression against Ukraine.
So, we are not discussing theoretically, we have to have a Strategic Concept which is very much focused on what we need now. And we need to consolidate NATO, we need to make NATO more powerful, stronger, united and to be able to face all consequences and challenges of nowadays.
For us, an important issue in the Strategic Concept is to give priority to collective defense and to define Russia as a threat. There are also many other issues in the strategic concept that need to be discussed. We will express them today.
Q1: Sir, you mentioned Georgia as well. Discussing about the Strategic Concept, what is Georgia’s role in this process?
Bogdan Aurescu: Well, I cannot speak on behalf of all my colleagues, but I can speak on behalf of Romania. Romania has always supported the Euro-Atlantic and European perspectives of Georgia – we are supporting the accession of Georgia to the European Union. So, as far as Romania is concerned, we consider that Georgia is a de facto member of the Alliance, providing a lot of support to the missions of the Alliance, and we have to discuss seriously, within the Alliance, what kind of further support we can offer to Georgia in order to increase its resilience. Because resilience is important, resilience will have an important role in the new Strategic Concept, not only as far as the Allies and NATO as a whole, but also as far as our partners are concerned. Thank you.
Q2: Were you surprised by the position that Turkey took? Did you understand yesterday what exactly they asked?
Bogdan Aurescu: Well, surprise in diplomacy is not something that we should welcome. But what I can say is that I understood perfectly what are the concerns of Turkey, it was an exchange with the colleagues from Finland and Sweden as well, so we have both sides’ positions, and there were contacts already last night, discussing what are the possibilities for moving forward. I think we shouldn’t lose momentum. This is extremely important, especially in the current context, and if you remember the proposals which were made by Russia in December, with those draft treaties that were advanced for conclusion to the United States and to NATO, in which Russia basically wanted to put on hold or stop the enlargement policy of NATO, I think it’s extremely important to show that this is a matter for Allies only and for, of course, candidate states. And that’s why I think it is important to find a solution and to have a swift process of ratification of the accession protocols and welcome both countries within NATO, because I think, and I think on behalf of Romania, that this would make the Alliance stronger. Thank you.
Declarațiile în format video sunt disponibile aici: https://www.mae.ro/node/58641.
