The Week in Review 9-15 July

A look at the main stories in Romania this past week.

Daniela Budu, 15.07.2023, 14:00

President
Klaus Iohannis attends NATO summit

Romania
fulfilled its objectives set for the NATO summit in Vilnius, where a
decisive step was made towards further consolidating the Alliance,
said president Klaus Iohannis after NATO’s annual summit. He
recalled that the adoption of the new defence plans provides the
highest level of security for the Eastern Flank at the Black Sea and
said the Alliance has an answer to any security threat that Bucharest
may face. He thanked all allies present in Romania for their
contributions. Klaus Iohannis:

We made sure the framework was in place for expanding the battle
groups, including that based in Romania, at brigade level, by means
of reinforcement troops, if necessary. Also, we will step up the
processes related to the pre-positioning of equipment. I thanked all
allies present in Romania for their contributions and welcomed
Spain’s decision to deploy troops to Romania.

The
Romanian president also reiterated the need for NATO to provide
consolidated support for its vulnerable partners, in particular the
Republic of Moldova (an ex-Soviet state with a majority
Romanian-speaking population). He announced further financial
assistance for Chişinău which Romania will transfer to the NATO
voluntary fund for this state. Speaking about the war in the
neighbouring Ukraine, Klaus Iohannis supported the materialisation
as soon as possible of Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic ambitions and
underlined that Romania, alongside the other member states, would
provide support for Ukraine as long as necessary, until it wins the
war. NATO deputy secretary general Mircea Geoană also said that as
far as Romania was concerned, the most important decision taken at
the NATO summit in Vilnius was that related to the new generation of
defence plans for allied territory, representing a strong element of
deterrence when it comes to different types of threats, including
Russia.

The
European Parliament supports Romania’s Schengen entry

The
European Parliament on Wednesday adopted a resolution based on a
petition submitted by Romanian civil society asking that the legality
of Austria’s veto against Romania’s
Schengen membership be contested. The resolution was adopted with 526
votes in favour, 57 votes against and 42 abstaining. The
resolution calls on the Commission to estimate the opportunity costs
incurred
by
Romania and Bulgaria and analyse possible options
for financial
compensation.

In
December last year, the Justice
and Home Affairs Council did
not adopt a unanimous decision on the two countries’ entry into the
Schengen area because of the opposition of Austria and The
Netherlands. Austrian chancellor Karl
Nehammer explained the move by mentioning the illegal migrants
reaching his country, many of whom he said came via Romania and
Bulgaria, something which the Romanian authorities contradicted. The
Netherlands said it supported the accession of Romania, but not
together with Bulgaria.