Romania’s President: focus on security in EU, no withdrawal from Iraq (Nov 14, 2006)

Nov 14, 2006 (Romania Report & sources)

Security in the Black Sea region will be an important Romanian foreign policy goal after the country joins the European Union next year, President Traian Basescu said on last Saturday, as Reuters reported. Romania has no intentions of withdrawing its troops from the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, vowing to stay "because it's a dishonor to leave your allies," Basescu also said in an interview with Associated Press.

The accession of Romania and its smaller southern neighbour Bulgaria will bring the EU borders to the shores of the Black Sea, a region criss-crossed by important routes for trafficking in people and drugs.

"It's a huge responsibility," Basescu said at a meeting with foreign journalists. "And we are ready to accept assistance."

"There are a lot of risks in the region, illegal migration from the former Soviet Union, drugs trafficking and terrorism."

The centrist president, whose country is a U.S. ally inside NATO and has troops in Iraq, said Iraq was not ready for a major shift in the United States' policy towards the region following the election defeat for President George W. Bush's Republicans.

Basescu said he did not believe early withdrawal of the U.S.-led force was on the cards despite signs of growing momentum for a new direction in Iraq policy in Washington.

"We cannot consider withdrawing and abandoning Iraq in the current situation," he said."We don't believe there will be any change and we will maintain our commitment."

In an interview with The Associated Press, Basescu said he empathized with mounting calls to withdraw the country's 608 non-combat personnel in Iraq, including impassioned pleas from the families of those serving.

But "Romania's honor is greater than its feelings," he said.

"An exit strategy is a matter of concern for us, and we are building it with our main allies, the U.S. and the U.K. But the states that form the coalition cannot abandon Iraq as it is now," he said after addressing reporters at a presidential retreat in Sinaia, about 60 miles north of Bucharest.

"We have an obligation to the Iraqi people. We will leave when the local authorities can provide security for the people," he said.



Basescu: ‘EU should diversify energy sources’

President Basescu also addressed the issue energy in the EU. He opined that, in mid term, the European Union should try to avoid depending on the natural gas supplied by the Russian company ‘Gazprom’—as the Russian giant could turn into a “political pressure instrument.”

Basescu suggested that, in the future, ‘Gazprom’ could threaten to sell to China the gas that is supplies currently to the European countries.

Romanian President also opined that all the frozen conflicts in the former USSR region represent an actual threat for the gas supply to the European block. Basescu pointed out that Romania’s energetic freedom will be gained through speeding up development of the country’s nuclear electric capacity.



Romania ex-PM faces graft trial while European Parliament asks Romania to step up on fight against corruption

Prosecutors in Romania yesterday said former Prime Minister Adrian Nastase (Social-Democrat) will go on trial on charges of bribe-taking, blackmail and abuse of public office.

The case against Mr Nastase, who was PM from 2000 to 2004, relates to the building of an apartment in Bucharest.

He denies taking 1.37m euros ($1.76m; £921,000) in bribes.

Correspondents say the Romanian authorities have been anxious to deal with allegations of corruption as the country prepares to join the EU.

Mr Nastase says the case against him, his wife Daniela and two other people is a political vendetta.

Mr Nastase was forced to step down as leader of the opposition Social-Democrat Party after the investigation opened last year, but he remains a member of parliament.

Progress on tackling corruption is crucial to Romania's plan to meet the January target date for EU membership.

In his latest report, Socialist MEP Pierre Moscovici recommends the European Parliament to support the monitoring system of the European Commission in Romania’s case with terms of action and special measures in the justice area. The Rapporteur encourages the Romanian Government to take the measures in question in order to prevent the activation of the safeguard clauses. Should such clauses be considered, however, “the European parliament would like those mechanisms to only be enforced in very specific areas and for a limited duration,” reads the Moscovici report.

The paper mentions the three areas where Romania still needs to take measures. Yet, according to the European Socialist, the most critical are the reform of the judiciary and the fight against corruption.



Romania Report – using Reuters, AP, and BBC reports