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The NATO Parliamentary Assembly Session in Bucharest
(2011-10-10)
Last updated: 2011-10-11 13:23 EET Print
The 57th annual session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly gathered in Bucharest 400 MPs from the 28 member countries of the Alliance and delegates from the associate countries, regional partners, Mediterranean associate countries and observer countries. For 4 days the participants discussed the NATO missions in Afghanistan, the events in northern Africa and the new security threats, including the cyber threat. A sensitive issue was the American missile defence shield in Europe, a project in which Romania also participates. The diplomatic effort of the Americans, the NATO officials and the states directly involved in this system, namely Romania, Poland, Spain and Turkey, to prove that the anti-missile shield is purely defensive did not manage to reassure Russia, which has once again called for security guarantees. Speaking before the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, President Traian Basescu said: “The elements of the American defence shield which are to be placed on Romania’s territory will represent a valuable contribution to the development of NATO’s capacity to protect the people and the territories of the member countries against possible missile attacks. I want to point out that the missiles to be placed on Romania’s territory are defensive missiles. Speculation and some people’s wish to question Romania’s good faith are nothing but lack of will to cooperate. Romania will host elements of a defensive system. Romania, in fact, despite being an average-sized country, has never asked and has never received missile defence guarantees from anybody and has the obligation to secure this type of defence for itself through partnerships with its allies”. The Romanian president also said that Bucharest supports an open and transparent dialogue on this issue in the NATO-Russia Council. As regards Afghanistan, Traian Basescu said that Romania, just like the other NATO allies, believes that a full transfer of security responsibilities to the authorities in Kabul should be a priority. Bucharest continues to be committed to the process of stabilisation and institution building in Afghanistan, and a possible reconfiguration of its contribution at a military level would depend on the developments on the ground and in cooperation with the allies. President Basescu also talked about the situation in Libya. He underlined that although NATO obtained a great success in that country, special attention should be granted to the infiltration of extremist and terrorist elements. Speaking about another sensitive issue, Traian Basescu announced that Bucharest would maintain its military participation within the NATO mission in Kosovo although Romania’s stand on Kosovo remains unchanged in the sense that it will not recognise Kosovo’s independence unless Belgrade and Pristina reach an agreement.

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