Reactions to Donald Trump’s election
Romanian authorities have conveyed messages of congratulations to the US President elect, Donald Trump.
Roxana Vasile, 10.11.2016, 14:33
Romanian authorities have hailed Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election and have conveyed messages of congratulations. The Romanian President, Klaus Iohannis, underlined Romania’s firm commitment to deepening cooperation with the future American Administration in the field of security and to developing the economic side of the US-Romanian Strategic Partnership.
Klaus Iohannis: “I have sent a letter of congratulations to the American President elect, Donald Trump. I have assured him that we are willing to cooperate in order to strengthen the Strategic Partnership between Romania and the US. In the event of changes, they will be in the sense of consolidating this partnership with focus on its three components: politics, security and economy. I have repeatedly said that if the first two components are functioning well, we will have to boost economic cooperation”.
The PM Dacian Ciolos has talked about the importance of the bilateral Strategic Partnership and said that increased importance should be attached to developing and boosting economic relations. According to pundits, an intelligent economic policy pursued by Bucharest could place Romania in an advantageous position in its relationship with the US. Donald Trump is a businessman who is sensitive to financial arguments. That is why Romania should attract more substantial American investments.
As regards foreign policy, Vladimir Socor, a political analyst with the Jamestown Foundation, has talked about the Russian issue: “I don’t think that Mr. Trump is willing to make a Yalta-type agreement with Vladimir Putin. This is an idea that I consider harmful first and foremost for the countries in our region, I mean in Central and Eastern Europe, and for all the countries in the Baltic and Black Sea regions. The idea of a new Yalta is very demoralizing. It is an idea that could fuel tendencies within our area to anticipate another Yalta through separate, bilateral agreements with Russia. Yalta was a unique phenomenon that cannot be repeated either in its original form or in a changed one.”
In turn, analyst Iulian Fota pleads for patience: “We all know that, during election campaigns, candidates say things that are later reformulated, amended or even given up. I think we should wait for the new American President, Donald Trump, to state his foreign policy guidelines. For the moment we should avoid emotional attitudes. On the other hand, we have our own problems in Europe and here in Romania. We’ll have parliamentary elections in December and we wonder how they will be influenced by the changes in the US.”
Donald Trump will officially take office in January 2017.(Translated by Lacramioara Simion)
