| home
Clement Sava
"Bucharest, meet point or battle field between West and East?"
Joan Timis
Interview with Romanian member of Parliament Ioan Timis, president of The Joint Standing Committee of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate for the Statute of Deputies and Senators.
Reporter: What did the Bucharest NATO Summit mean for the new international politics?
Ioan Timiº: The NATO Summit did not happen by accident in the capital of Romania, because the event highlighted the strong diplomatic confrontation between the East and the West. And the fact that this new era of negotiations, regarding the extension of the North Atlantic Treaty, happened in a country that was formerly thrown, without her will behind the Iron Curtain, shows that the process of integration of the democratic states cannot be stopped anymore. I know that a request was made for surpassing the logic of the Cold War and that the efforts of the western political offices are significant. Yet, the opposition of the Russian president Vladimir Putin regarding the NATO extension towards the countries near Russia, and I refer especially to Ukraine and Georgia, shows us that the suspicions of the former block did not disappear. And the new world policy must be aware of this new reality, even if the situation is complex and USA's position in this matter had to resist the challenges of its occidental allies, like France or Germany. So the Bucharest Summit highlights an important step towards the regeneration of certain parts of Europe (Albania and Croatia), that had to suffer from the separation between the east and the west and fought to get rid of a previous inculcated ideology.
R.: Did the Romanians win anything from the fact that they hosted this event?
I.T.: Without a doubt, they did. Think of the fact that all the international media had special correspondents sent to Bucharest, and that the name of Romania and its capital was reminded countless times, and that it will remain a big step forward in the history of the alliance. We have proved that we are capable of organizing major international events, and this fact was stated by USA's president George W. Bush. Beyond the `advertising' side (if I may call it so), we must not forget that a section of the Bucharest Summit Declaration issued by the Heads of State and Government participating in the meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Bucharest on 3 April 2008 was dedicated to the security of the Black Sea region, which represents an acknowledgement of the importance of the area, and a tribute brought to this side of the world, that seems to become more and more important. And, of course, this 36th section of the declaration is, at the same time, a merit of Romania and an acknowledgement of the efforts of this country. The text of the declaration says: “We reaffirm the continued importance of the Black Sea region for Euro Atlantic security. In this regard, we welcome the progress in consolidation of regional ownership, through effective use of existing initiatives and mechanisms. The Alliance will continue to support, as appropriate, these efforts guided by regional priorities and based on transparency, complementarity and inclusiveness, in order to develop dialogue and cooperation among the Black Sea states and with the Alliance”.
R.: What will happen with the future of the North Atlantic Treaty?
I.T.: In spite of Russia's opposition, the final declaration of the summit states a series of long-term commitments towards Ukraine, Georgia. The fact that NATO's efforts will be directed towards the extension of the alliance on these coordinates is foreseeable. It is just as easy to foresee that the opposition of Russia and its geostrategic games, sometimes drawn in slight threatening, as in the case of Ukraine, are made to block the alliance extension towards `Moscow's rib, as they like to call it. NATO has yet other issues beyond the extension of the former communist camp. Its attention is directed towards the Balkans, which was brought back to attention with the independence of Kosovo. The toughest war though is the fight against the fundamentalists and the unseen, but almost omnipresent conflicts with the terrorists. This is where the confrontation ceases to be formulated in precise areas and starts being a general threatening brought to all those that are part of the process of globalization. More than that, the ballistic rockets threatening puts the alliance under a new pressure, since the distant threatening of such technologies implies the development of a self-defence network - that happen to awake another series of suspicions in Moscow. The Summit Declaration promises a new series of measures in 2009, through witch all the member states of the alliance will be protected with the help of the anti-rocket shield. We will have to wait and see, then, whether the alliance will be able to start such an ambitious project.
Interview realized by Clement Sava, journalist, Romania
