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| GEORGE W BUSH ABOUT ROMANIA AND NATO 28/03/2008 |
| (2008-03-28) |
| Last updated: 2008-03-31 10:46 EET |
NATO is a political-military alliance of equals. It operates on an all-for-one, one-for-all basis. Latvia, Iceland or Luxembourg benefit from the same security guarantees as Great Britain, France or Germany. Yet no one could ever deny that the United States is the first among equals, on account of their military might and geo-political importance. US presidents have always been the stars of the NATO summits, and next week’s summit in Romania is definitely no exception. That is precisely why Romanian TV stations in Bucharest and the EVENIMENTUL ZILEI daily paper sent their reporters to the White House, where they snatched an interview with President George W. Bush, that can be seen as a general introduction to the summit in Bucharest. President Bush was quoted as saying he had pleasant memories form Bucharest.
We recall the US President came to Bucharest in November 2002, right after the NATO summit in Prague, when Romania was invited to join the Alliance. President Bush said that NATO was a positive and not a negative force. A force that encouraged reforms and modernization. And that gave a feeling of security. President Bush said he would never forget the faces of Bucharest’s residents when he was there, shortly after Romania had been admitted to NATO, when they were wondering what that meant, what the president would say. The president remembered stating that “God smiles on Bucharest,” and also remembered saying that quote ”If one is attacked, all are attacked and the US will stand by their side.” Unquote.
For the Americans, both Romania’s accession to NATO and the bilateral strategic partnership struck with Romania turned out to be profitable investments. Romania plays host to US military bases, and its soldiers fight alongside their American comrades in Afghanistan and Iraq. In both theatres of operation, the Romanian contingent has suffered human loses. President Bush described Romania’s contribution to the fight against terrorism as “an important contribution, that took its toll of human lives, and those most hurt were the ones who lost their nearest and dearest in the war.”
Also, President Bush did not refrain himself from extending his “sincere condolences” to the grieving families. President Bush was firmly convinced the NATO summit in Romania would be a historical one, as “the new NATO enlargement will have a positive influence on a region that has seen its most trying times throughout history.” There is no place more suitable than Bucharest, US President said, for the long-awaited invitation of the three small aspirant countries in the West Balkans - Croatia, Albania and Macedonia – as well as for the encouragement of the accession ambitions of the former Soviet republics of Ukraine and Georgia.
It is also at this summit, President Bush hopes, that a solution will be found so that the American anti-missile shield can protect all of the USA ‘ friends and allies, including Romania, a country that had been left out of the envisaged Central Europe protective umbrella. Going beyond the strictly strategic dimension of the bilateral partnership, President Bush insisted , quote “our relations are more than that”, as they include trade and educational exchanges and he noted that in America there was a strong interest in investments in Romania. As for the fact that unlike citizens of other EU countries, Romanians still need a visa to enter the US, President Bush was slightly embarrassed, acknowledging that he found it hard to explain that to those who can fight alongside us, but are not treated just like any other EU member state.”
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2025-04-04
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