European Defence Discussed in Bucharest
The chief executive of the European Defence Agency made a visit to Bucharest.
România Internațional, 11.06.2014, 13:38
Romania is a very important strategic player, particularly in the current regional security situation, the chief executive of the European Defence Agency Claude-France Arnauld said in Bucharest on Tuesday. This is the first visit to Romania by a top-level European security and defence official in a long time, the Romanian Defence Minister Mircea Dusa said. The two officials discussed, among other things, the support given by the EDA to EU member states, Romania included, for upgrading their defence industries.
Arnauld said the Agency wanted to be able to rely on a strong defence industry involving all Member States, which is why the EDA supports and develops all relevant research and development projects. On the other hand, she mentioned the need to resume an upward trend as regards the defence budgets of European countries. Minister Dusa told the European official that Romania intends its defence budget to reach 2% of the GDP by 2016. He announced the Defence Ministry would receive additional funding as early as the second half of this year, so that it may carry on its army upgrade programmes. Dusa also said that Bucharest would like the national defence industry to be included in the European programmes run by EDA.
Mircea Dusa: “Europe will have to strengthen its defence industry, and we would like to have Romanian enterprises specialising in this field included in the building of the European military capabilities.”
The issue of increased military budgets for EU member states was also tackled by the NATO Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, at a conference in Brussels on Tuesday. He expressed his hope that, at the NATO Summit scheduled to take place in September, the leaders of NATO countries would endorse a statement reaffirming, on the one hand, the American commitment to Europe’s security, and on the other hand the European commitment to a fair distribution of expenses and responsibilities.
According to NATO data, over the past five years Russia has increased its military spending by 50%, whereas NATO countries have reduced it by 20%. Last year, only the US, UK, Greece and Estonia earmarked at least 2% of their GDP to defence, as required by their NATO membership. Romania, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia announced they would boost their defence budgets.
