MASTER THESIS - Aalborg Universitets forskningsportal
MASTER THESIS
Why NATO needed Romania and why Romania needed NATO?
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Development and International Relations / European Studies - Master Programme
Thesis Supervisor: Associate Professor Søren Schmidt
Student: Andrei Dragomir
JUNE 2014
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. Introduction 3
II. Methodology 9
1. Why NATO and Why Romania? 9
2. Experience and Data Collection 11
3. Key Concepts 13
4. Methodological facts 16
5. Problem Formulation 20
III. Theory and Literature 24
IV. Analysis 31
1. Romania between Eastern Past and Western Future 31
2. Understanding the Past Problems and the Future Hopes 39
3. Utility for NATO and utility of NATO 48
4. Romania as an important actor and strong ally of the West in the region 58
5. Romania and the Alliance’ interest in the Black Sea region 65
6. NATO – a first step towards full Euro-Atlantic integration 71
V. Conclusion 76
VI. Bibliography 80
VII. Annexes 83
Introduction
We live in an era where almost every international organization fights to maintain peace, protect the environment and eliminate poverty, separately or together. It is also the case of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization which is a political and military alliance spread from Vancouver to Vilnius. The Organization is able to reach such a large space by continuously enlarge in Europe. NATO’s main focuses are on political and military cooperation in order to ensure the security of its members and of the surrounding regions.
Due to my previous experiences such as participating to the Bucharest NATO Summit from 2008 and with my internship, where I have participated in joint meetings between NATO and OSCE specialists in Vienna, I have come to the idea, together with my Supervisor, to choose this subject, focused on why Romania needed the NATO membership and why the Alliance wanted the Eastern European country as a member. Attending the NATO Summit and more important the meetings in Vienna gave me another perspective about the multilateral diplomacy and how the security issues in Europe are discussed. The fact that I had access to such meetings and actually study in detail the official documents has also raised my interest in the subject.
The fact that I have previously studied during Bachelor the importance of the security cooperation and how important was the NATO integration for Romania and alongside the things I have learned about international relations and security cooperation during the Master Programme at the Aalborg University gave me a certain level of experience on the subject, experience much needed in order to write your Master Thesis. The politico-military aspect of security cooperation is the most important especially in Europe where we have regions with security instability such as the Balkans and the region of the former members of the Soviet Union.
Most international organizations based on support and assistance in politico-military, economically, environmental and human dimension aspects work with a certain framework for cooperation which every member state or partner for cooperation must adhere to. So this simplifies the process of conferring assistance when needed. In spite of the differences between the countries, differences such as dimension, influence and geostrategic position, every member state of an organization must comply with internal rules and fully cooperate especially when security issues are involved. Generally speaking, countries that fully cooperate in order to solve their security issues have better chances of succeeding than those where military interventions are possible. In the last decades we have examples of countries ruined by war and internal conflicts, where international military presence was required by the international community in order to stabilize the situation in all aspects.
We should consider the last two decades events in terms of conflicts and terrorist threats and then think about the importance of the security not only between NATO members but in the entire World. Since the North Atlantic Alliance has its roots in the will of the Western Europe to protect itself from the possible threat of the Soviet Union and Eastern Germany we should think about the evolution of this structure of political and military cooperation and how it dealt with several problems. The beginning of the Cold War marks the birth of the North Atlantic Alliance along some other actions taken by the United States, Canada and Western Europe powers.
What we would like to emphasize trough this project is the importance of security in Eastern Europe and why Romania is such an important actor in this region now. Given the recent events in Kiev, with the Ukrainian President Yanukovych leaving the country after a mass revolt, and the fact that the Crimean Peninsula is now Russian territory we can say that these events prove again the importance of security in the region.
NATO’s birth coincided with the influence of President Truman in Europe and the Marshall Plan for reconstructing a Europe devastated by the war. “After 1951, economic aid trough the Marshall Plan was transformed into military aid to equip NATO and, in 1954, to rearm West Germany to be NATO’s military shield against the Soviet Union.”[1]
It is known that the foundations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are based on the North Atlantic Treaty also know as the Washington Treaty signed on the 4th of April 1949. The treaty is a model of “brevity and provides for in-built flexibility on all fronts. Without the original text being modified at any stage, the Alliance has been able to adapt to a changing security environment through time and each Ally can implement the text in accordance with its capabilities and circumstances.” [2]
Speaking about changes in the North Atlantic Alliance structures and functioning, one of the most important moments after its creation is the end of the Communist bloc and the fall of the Soviet Union. From this point on, in the beginning of the 90s, NATO had to embrace a series of changes and began the enlargement process. In this context, Romania is one of the most important new democracies in terms of geostrategic policy. The historical returning of Romania to the occident will be able through and with the help of the Euro-Atlantic structures and especially the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Since the creation of the organization, NATO encountered so many different scenarios by which I mean diplomatic crisis, wars, civil wars, border tensions between states and so on. During the period since its creation in 1949, NATO was a major actor in the Cold War, had to deal with the Gulf War, the conflicts in Yugoslavia, and the absence of France from the members list and many more. The fall of the Communist bloc in Europe was one of the most important events since NATO’s creation and the appearance of the newly formed democracies represented an opportunity for the Alliance to enlarge.
We should also consider the last two decades’ events in terms of conflicts and terrorist threats and then think about the importance of the security cooperation not only in the NATO region but in the entire world. Since the frequency of terrorist attacks had increased during the 90s and having the peak point in the September 11 events, resulted in NATO’s radically changing its modus-operandi regarding the prediction and annihilation of the terrorist attacks.
During the years, NATO introduced new and innovative methods to deal with the security issues especially terrorist threats. What we see today is that the Alliance promotes security trough liberal democracy and synchronized military intelligence cooperation.
The enlargement of NATO has as one of the major objectives the consolidation of democracy in Europe. It also tries to foster cooperation and promote stability in the region. We have to see the context of NATO creating a new division in Europe which is not such a great scenario.[3]
Trough this project we want to be able to show the influence exercised by NATO on new democracies in Europe and how this cooperation was beneficial for both parts. We will also try to analyze the whole process of integration of Romania in the North Atlantic structures from the political and economic levels to the military part, which will be revealed as one of the strong points of Romania from geostrategic and defense points of view.
By analyzing the recent changes in the NATO area we will be able to see the updated tendencies regarding security cooperation between members and political and economic dialogue in Europe. We will also try to give some of the examples of NATO missions to see the types of action in the Alliance.
Since its creation NATO was not as threatening as Russia was. Even after its enlargement, getting closer to the Central European countries than Russia, NATO was not perceived as aggressive because of its modus-operandi. In comparison with the Soviet Union, the United States did not use force against its allies so the integration of Central Eastern European countries came to balance a potential threat of Russia. In this project we will show how the 5th Article of the Washington Treaty is one of the most important benefits of the integration of the newly formed democracies in Central and Eastern Europe.[4]
This subject is particularly interesting due to the current situation in Crimeea and how the Russian Federation’s actions have direct repercussions for the territorial integrity of Ukraine. The situation will show us the importance and contribution of the Central Eastern European members of NATO and also the capabilities of the Alliance to ensure the stability in the region and how they will support members in times of threat.
One of the most inspiring quotes for the thesis is President’s Vaclav Havel reply to the question of former Secretary General of NATO, Manfred Wörner who asked the Czech President what was the most urgent problem of the post-revolutionary period. At that time Havel responded: “We have two option: we can rely on Communists, who do have some useful experience but are not politically reliable; or we can entrust key positions to former dissidents who are reliable but lack the knowledge necessary in order to lead the country. If we opt for the second solution, we are going to need a lot of help and advice from Western experts.”[5] This shows the importance of western assistance for European countries which are trying to get on the democratic path, leaving behind the influence of the Soviet Union and Yalta’s legacy. Czech Republic’s case is not singular in the region and every newly formed democracy needs assistance from the Euro-Atlantic structures in order to reach stability in a democratic environment after decades of communist rule. This will be the case of Romania after the events of the Revolution in December 1989 when the country began reaching out the West as a historical reconciliation. NATO was the first major player in the Euro-Atlantic region that was interested in the future of Romania, and coincidentally or not Romania had the occasion to first reach the Alliance and become an important member positioned between two unstable regions, the territory of former Yugoslavia and the former Soviet Union.
The stabilization of the democracy and the development of the economy in the countries that entered in the first and second wave was different, as the Alliance have stressed more the importance of the political and economic levels in the second wave, in which Romania was included. We will see how this thing influenced the development of Romania from all points of view as Romania preparing to enter both the North Atlantic Alliance and the European in the 21st Century.
The United States is the most important and influent partner of Romania which provided a lot of support for the Eastern European country after the 1989 Revolution. It is also the United States that helped Romania in finding the way back to good relations with Western Europe as they were in the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. Actually, in the period between the First and Second World Wars, Romania was considered to be more Western-like then ever but with more than a half of century of Communism these tendencies were lost.
Further on we will pass to the methodology part in order to better explain better the structure of the thesis and why we have chosen the examples of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Romania in order to show the importance and the “origins of the alliances” such as this one, between a Euro-Atlantic structure and an Eastern European Country.
Methodology
1 Why NATO and Why Romania?
We have chosen NATO because of numerous arguments, most of them related to the political and economic influence of the Organization in the whole World and not only in the regions where members are aligned. NATO is one of the most important and successful alliances since the very beginning, in 1949 when the Washington Treaty was signed. Since its creation, NATO has faced not only external but also internal crisis, and we have the case of France leaving the Alliance for a short period of time in the 60s, when the Alliance’s structures had only a decade of experience.
The formation of NATO coincided with the Marshall Plan which was active between 1947 and 1951 when the Washington Treaty was already signed. This could only mean that there was some synchronization in the United States plan regarding its foreign policy. “In Europe itself, Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg formed the Western European Union, to prevent either Germany or the USSR from dominating Europe. Because of the Berlin Blockade in 1948 and the Communist aggression in Czechoslovakia and Korea, the United States and the Western European Union combined forces in a new alliance, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949.”[6] Here Peter Duignan describes NATO as a preventive system that wanted to gain more influence and responsibility in a democratic fashion. The United States was and still is the biggest influence of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, but as known, during the years, many other members exercised a great amount of influence within the structures.
After the 1989 Revolution in Romania, NATO was one of the first organizations to interact with the country in times of need. For the Alliance, this was an opportunity to get closer to the Middle East and Central Asia, regions where possible threats could come from. Romania wanted at that time, a stronger relation with the United States and Western Europe and the single road in achieving this was trough the NATO partnership and further membership.
Choosing NATO was a decision that came from my will to dedicate this thesis to the security studies and alliance formation. It was also a consensus between my coordinator and me to focus on the relation between NATO and Romania and why these two entities decided to cooperate.
The fact that I am Romanian also influenced me in choosing this subject alongside the importance of the country in Europe. Romania is the seventh biggest country in Europe with a population around 20 million inhabitants, member of NATO, EU, OSCE, and UN. Geographically, Romania is crossed by the Danube River for more than 1500 km of its territory being the Eastern gate in the Rotterdam-Constanţa channel. Romania also has the biggest Harbor in the Black Sea in Constanţa a very important transportation link from Western Europe to the Middle East. From the geostrategic point of view, Romania is a close ally of the Euro-Atlantic structures given its proximity to Russia and the Middle East.
One other reason for choosing Romania was its participation to a large number of peacekeeping missions, war zones and conflict management missions as part of the close partnership with the United States, UN, NATO and OSCE.
The Eastern European country is also a strong partner of the United States from the mid 90s due to a part of the political leadership in Romania that helped establish this relation in a more diplomatic way. This relation with the US helped Romania gain the necessary political experience and economic performance to be able to integrate in NATO and later in the European Union. Recently Romania has announced that the Missile Defense System at Deveselu (see Annexes 1 and 2) is operational. Also Military Airport at Mihail Kogălniceanu will increase its dimensions, to reach a larger number of staff and equipment. The Romanian President Traian Basescu stated earlier this year: “The relationship with the United States made the organizing of Bucharest NATO Summit possible. It also helped with the synchronization of the Romanian Military and Security Structures with the mechanism of NATO.”[7]
On the 4th of April 2014, Romania marked a decade since its integration in the North-Atlantic Treaty Organization. This historical moment is one other reason for choosing to study the relation between NATO and Romania.
A key factor in my decision to study this subject was the possibility to access many documents regarding the NATO integration process of Romania. Official documents and national publications were part of the research and the easy access and reduced costs were important in taking this decision.
As we go further in the methodological part, we will speak in the next chapter about the key concepts identified in the entire paper. We will try to define every concept and to explain its role in this project. This part is also important in finding the links between every concept and to see how the parts of the project are related.
2 Experience and Data Collection
After agreeing on a certain subject with the Supervisor, the research for materials from a particular area started. Since the relation between NATO and former partner and current members in not something new to the field of International Relations and International Organization I was able to rely on many databases to find the materials used in this projects. The data collection process is something important in order to make a difference between a good and a great project. Since my Internship was in Vienna, at the Romanian Permanent Mission to the International Organizations, and I worked with OSCE and UN, organizations that have a strong cooperation with NATO, I was able to access official documents from meetings and presentations that included the North Atlantic Alliance. I had the chance to be part of joint meetings between officials from the Organization for Security Cooperation in Europe and experts from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
During my experience with the Bachelor Degree, I have gained access to a number of databases which have been extremely useful as a Political Science student. Shortly after finishing the Political Science Faculty at the University of Bucharest I knew the databases will be useful in my future studies. One of the most important databases used in this project is JSTOR, which we also have access trough the Digital Library of Aalborg University.
Other important source for literature was the Bucharest University Library “Carol I” which is one of the largest and more complex libraries in Romania offering a large number of items from all domains. Since being in Bucharest for a certain period of time after I finished the Internship, the Bucharest University Library offered the space necessary to research, read and write the thesis. The opportunity to access items from a Romanian library was o a great advantage for me since the subject is related to Romania. Accessing books and articles written in Romanian, gave me the opportunity to have a complex research on the subject and read items never translated into English or any other language. At this library I was able to access official documents and books regarding Romania’s integration into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
After agreeing with my Supervisor about the subject and the proposal, I started writing the project. I began to plan my work and outline a structure for the project in order to be able to work at the project and continue read the selected materials.
Since the main structure of the project was shaped from the beginning, I have started writing. Previously, I have made an approximate schedule for writing the project. With daily library sessions, consisting in 6-7 hours of actual work I managed to write a consistent part of the project. In one month, the project was starting to have a shape. This programme continued for four more weeks and with numerous meetings with my Supervisor.
At the moment of my arrival in Aalborg most of the work was done and the process of rereading began.
The work continued with more writing and rereading of the project on one side and on the other side the empirical research continued and helped in the general quality of the project.
In this part we have tried to describe the process of data collection and how previous experience as a political science student has helped in this project. We also have to mention the previous times when we have dealt with this area of study, which helped in the decision to write about this subject.
Next we will be able to see the key concepts identified in this project and how they will help us to understand better the project.
3 Key Concepts
During my research for this master thesis we have identified a number of concepts that we consider relevant in defining the core of the project. We will try to define every concept for a better understanding of the project.
We have indentified concepts such as: alliance, organization, balance of threat, foreign aid, security, democracy, economic and political development, geostrategic, regional actor, Eastern Europe and defense system.
With the help of several dictionaries and other material I will try to formulate a definition for each concept.
The first concept identified is alliance which derives from the noun ally and defined in the Concise Oxford English Dictionary as “1. An union or association formed for mutual benefit – a relation based on affinity – the state of being joined or associated;” or for ally “– a state formally cooperating with another for a military of other purpose;”[8] In the Larousse – Dictionnaire de la Langue Française the verb allier defines the conclusion of a union treaty or a signed contract of alliance.[9]
Stephen Walt, the author of “The Origins of Alliances” defines the alliance as a formal or informal security cooperation relation between two or more states. This definition implies a certain level of engagement and a level of benefits exchange from both sides; the ending of the relation or the disagreement over the contract will come with some cots even if there will be a compensation.[10] This definition is important for our study as this project is based on the theories of Stephen Walt regarding the origins of alliances.
Balance of threat is the first of the complex concepts identified in this project and it is related to balance of threat theory proposed by Stephen Walt. In this case we have two nouns which we will first define separately. Balance is defined in the Oxford Online English Dictionary as “a situation in which different elements are equal or in the correct proportions.”[11] The other noun, threat, is first defined as “a statement of an intention to inflict pain, injury, damage or hostile action on someone in retribution for something done of not done.”[12] A more relevant definition for our project is “a person of thing likely to cause damage or danger.” [13] These two nouns put together form out a complex concept that can be defined through the balance of threat theory proposed by Stephen Walt.
The second complex concept identified as relevant in the project is foreign aid. This concept is formed by an adjective and a noun. Foreign is an adjective defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as “of, from, in, or characteristic of another country or language other than one’s own.”[14] Of course that we have found other definitions but this is the most relevant for this subject. The noun aid is defined as “the act or result of helping and synonym with support or assistance.”[15] This complex concept can be defined also as external help or assistance, and in our case we have examples of the assistance provided by the United States of America or by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to Romania.
Organization is another concept identified in this project. This concept is defined as “1. - the action of organizing – systematic arrangement of element – a systematic approach to tasks; 2. an organized group of people with a particular purpose, such as a business or government department;”[16] This concept is used together with international to form the complex concept of international organization which directs us to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and implicitly to our subject.
Another important concept to this study is security. The most relevant definition for the understanding of this word used in the project is “the safety of a state or an organization against criminal activity such as terrorism.”[17] This concept is more relevant in a complex design such as safety and security cooperation where this means a close and synchronized activity of multiple bodies in order to ensure the safety and security of someone or something.
Related to Romania, after 1989 Revolution, democracy is another concept relevant to this study. Democracy is described as a political system or a form of government where the people have the ultimate authority. It is also describing a country that has democracy as a form of government (ex. Romania, the new Democracy of the Eastern Europe).[18]
Speaking about Romania’s integration in the NATO structures, the development of the economy and of the political aspect in country, is one of the benefits of the both sides. Here we can identify the economic and political development as one of our concepts. This is a complex concept where development is seen “as a specified state of growth or advancement,” [19]and in this cases the advancement of the political and economic aspects of a society.
Geostrategic is an adjective, “related to the strategy required in dealing with geopolitical problems, and where geopolitical is related to international political relations as influenced by geographical facts.”[20]
The next concept we have identified in this study, is regional actor which refers to a country that plays a certain role in a region, identifying Romania as an actor in the region of Central and Eastern Europe. Already mentioned, Eastern Europe is a concept defining the exact region where Romania is positioned and the region where Romania is an important player.
As Stephen Walt mentioned that the display of power reduces when the distance is increasing, the importance of covering a much larger range of action is important especially for an Organization such as NATO where the proximity threats can lead to a balance or alignment of power. [21]
Last but not least, the defense system is a key concept for this project. It relates to the military resources for protecting a country and a means of protecting something from an attack.[22] In our case, the defense system of Romania was aligned to NATO standards and developed recently by including a Missile Defense System and a Military Base to other structures. This improvement is not only at the technical level but also on the intelligence, with institutions in Romania closely cooperating with those of other members of the Alliance in order to provide common security.
The mentioned concepts can be found in other studies or dictionaries and given the lack of time and space I was not able to develop more on each of them so I strongly suggest consulting other sources for a more complex understanding.
4 Methodological facts
What I am trying to investigate here is why a country such as Romania, a newly formed democracy after the 1989 Revolution and the fall of the Soviet Union, needed to enter in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and why such an organization wanted Romania as its member. The first encounter between the Alliance and Romania was registered quite fast after Romania became a democracy and focused its attention towards West. Complementary I want to investigate why NATO wanted to include Romania on the membership list. So basically this is a study where we are trying to find or build answers to this relationship and explain how Romania became such an important ally in the region. Nonetheless I will try to enumerate some of the critics of this relation, especially from the beginning of Romania’s road as a member of NATO.
After writing the Introduction and a part of the Methodology, I will continue with the Problem Formulation which can be considered the actual starting point of my project. The direction given by the formulation of the main question is very important because it could reach a certain path, it can all go well and make the process easier or it could complicate things. Thinking about this project and given the fact that this represents a Master Thesis, the subject should be narrower and it should be related to something we already worked with and a certain level of experience was reached.
The next step after the Problem Formulation part is discussed, we should focus on the theory used for this project. After a solid research and knowing what to look for, a consult with the Project Supervisor is required especially in those parts of Problem Formulation and Theory. Given that the project is about a politico-military Alliance (NATO) I will focus my attention to the alliance forming theories. The author we have identified as most relevant is Stephen M. Walt with his work on The Origins of Alliances, a book where he explains how and why the politico-military alliances are formed alongside other alliance related facts.
In this part we will also mention other essential works from this field of study, works of authors that help not only by their reputation but also with exact focus to our particular subject.
NATO in the New Europe – the Politics of International Socialization after the Cold War, is another important work to the project. Alexandra GHECIU, the author of the this piece of work, was focused on the last decade of the 20th Century and the beginning of the 21st where countries such as the Czech Republic and Romania entered the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in separate waves. The study focuses also on the European Union enlargement in the same period.
In the Analysis part, we will try to formulate the answers to the Problem Formulation. We will try to focus on the subject, and structure every answer in order for the reader to be able to easily understand the connections made. By studying the relation between NATO and Romania from both sides we should be able to say why each side wanted the other. We have structured the Analysis part in five complementary parts. Starting with the first subchapter called Romania between Eastern Past and Western Future, we want to clarify the situation of Romania, and how the Socialist Republic of Romania was marked by the influence of the Soviet Union and directs its attention more to the East before the 1989 Revolution when Romania decided to shift its attention to the West. Gradually, the attention to the West of Romania was increasing and the relations were strengthening. This is the part where Romania has first interacted with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. As the relations have developed, Romania began to understand its problems and learn what to do in order to integrate in the Euro-Atlantic structures. This gives the name of the second subchapter of the Analysis part, called Understanding Past Problems and Future Hopes. The next subchapter is called Utility for NATO and Utility of NATO, where we can understand how NATO will benefit from Romania’s integration in all levels. Also we will be able to see how Romania can do better especially from the political and economic perspectives. Next we will be able to see the actual process of integration in the Alliance and how Romania became an important ally of the West. This subchapter is called Romania as an important actor and a strong ally of the West in the region
Last but not least, we will see how the NATO integration of Romania represented an impulse for a further European Integration in the subchapter called NATO as a first step towards full Euro-Atlantic Integration.
After the Analysis part helped us understand the subject by answering the main question in a defined structure of subchapter the project is finally going to a conclusion. It is obvious that every reader will be free to draw its own, but it is important to also read the writers’ conclusion, to be able to further analyze other perspectives.
An important aspect should be mentioned and it refers to the analytical levels of the project. We have here to analyze the relation between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Romania, so we have two analytical levels. First we have the national level, which is represented by the Romanian perspective of the relation. Second, we have the international level, represented by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and all its members. Here we have the Alliance’ perspective on the relation with Romania. These two analytical levels are certain proof of a qualitative study over this relation.
Further we have to mention another important aspect of methodology. We have studied here only one dimension and I strongly encourage exploring other dimensions on this particular subject. This thesis can be included as a part of a research on this subject and it can easily help the reader to discover other related works from the bibliography.
Given the lack of time and space, the quantity and quality of the project may be affected. I have been researching for material and studied the subject in Aalborg and in Bucharest and the University Central Library “Carol the First” which is one of the most important libraries in Romania and in Eastern Europe. There I was able to find important materials about the relationship between NATO and Romania.
Knowing very well the importance of a group project I want to say that I have strongly considered to work with some of my colleagues but the prolonged Internship work and the impossibility to have meetings on a daily basis in order to work for the project have pushed me to the conclusion of working on my own. The impossibility to reach the University campus before the 6th of May was also a decisional factor in terms of writing the thesis on my own.
One other important fact for this project is that I was able to study some articles, books and reports in Romanian. This gave me access to special reports and articles that have never been translated into any other language and offered me a better perspective on the Romanian side of the “story”.
This subject is of actuality and given the recent events in Ukraine, this relation between Romania and NATO could develop more and more in the following period. The current situation in Ukraine will provide some changes in the aspect of NATO presence in Romania.
Other important fact to mention in the methodology part is how up to date is the subject and how recent international events have influenced us in choosing the subject for the thesis. When we first sketched a plan for the project the Crimeea Crisis was on-going and since NATO have began to enhance the military exercises in the member countries that are more closer to the Crimean Peninsula and from the Russian Federation, the subject regarding the relation between NATO and a neighbor of Ukraine was more and more actual and fit to the current International Relations events. Official statements in Romania are one of the first to condemn the actions of the Russian Federation in the North of the Black Sea.
5 Problem Formulation
Problem Formulation: Why NATO needed Romania and why Romania needed NATO?
The main question we will try to answer in my project is focused on the Romanian process of integration in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Furthermore the question is focused on the relation between Romania and NATO after the integration when the role of the Eastern European country in the region began to develop more and more.
Basically we will try to show why Romania wanted to join the North Atlantic Alliance in the first place, in the beginning of the 90s when the idea of NATO’s enlargement was culminating and when Romania began to show its interest towards the West after the 1989 Revolution when the Communist dictatorship of Nicolae Ceausescu was put to an end.
From the NATO’s point of view, we will try to show why Romania was important for the enlargement of the Alliance and what were the strong points and the less strong points of the country.
As a country positioned in a geopolitical area of strategic importance, Romania is seeking to play an important role in the process of defining and implementation of the cooperation and security assistance policies in the Euro-Atlantic region. In this project, with the help of the main question, we will try to show how the two sides reach a high level of cooperation, with Romania becoming a strong ally in the region and an important promoter of regional security. [23]
We will also show the importance of the cooperation of the two sides for the security and safety in the region of Eastern Europe and the Black Sea.
Given that Romania found itself in a difficult position in the 90s, between two regions defined by security problems, the Western Balkans and the region of former USSR, the question of integration in the North Atlantic Alliance was first raised by both sides.
The main question can make the difference between a good project and a great project so we had a lot of thinking about it before a final decision. Alongside my Supervisor, we decided to focus on this relation between Romania and NATO and to analyze it. The timing with the current situation in Ukraine is in our advantage as the subject is becoming more and more current and interesting to study.
Another important aspect for the problem formulation part is that it can give a certain direction to the project, having two major possibilities, a project focused on the subject or a project that can be divided, which is not a good thing to happen. Hopefully we have set the thing strait and the problem formulation will help us focus on the particular relation between Romania and NATO. We should not forget to mention that we have previously discussed with our Supervisor this subject and what is the best question to ask in order to be focused on the subject and have a great analysis.
This subject raises interest not only because it is focused the relation between an international organization specialized in security cooperation and a member country but also by how this relations has been developing during the years since the idea of integration was born for Romania and the North Atlantic Alliance started thinking about enlargement in Eastern Europe.
Being able to access and study materials in Romanian regarding the relationship with NATO, offers a great chance to build a good project with a consistent bibliography alongside English and French language materials. Having the chance to study Romanian authors in their native language makes the project more complex.
The problem formulation will introduce the importance of the security cooperation promoted by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization within its borders. Also we can stress the importance of the strategy of regional security cooperation and how Romania is acting to perfect the political and strategic efforts of security of the North Atlantic Alliance and the European Union.
“Why NATO needed Romania and why Romania needed NATO?” is a question on behalf we can prove that NATO was a first step towards Romania’s integration in the European Union. We will show that Romania benefited from acceding into NATO within the second wave of countries, when the Organization required a more consistent political and economic development for a country to reach the member status. We will show that NATO, by these political and economic development requirements, reassured that the future member Romania will promote democratic and economic efficient solutions to security cooperation within NATO boarders and in the region.
My personal experience, working with the OSCE and participating at joint meetings with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization regarding the Euro-Atlantic regional security cooperation helped in the process of selecting the materials and to decide to analyze this subject.
An important aspect of the Romania’s integration into NATO was the relations with the United States. This relation debuted in the early 90s and has been a strong factor for the development of the Eastern-European country and its direction towards the Western Europe. “While the US–Romanian partnership established a path toward NATO membership for Romania, the case for Ukraine and Georgia was less clear and more complicated. The US Ukraine partnership began in September 1996 as an effort to bolster Ukrainian sovereignty. This was a similar purpose to that which was behind the US–Georgia Strategic Partnership Commission established in 2009.” [24]
Official visits of former Presidents of the United States such as Clinton and George W. Bush have come to promote the strong partnership between the two countries in the world and open the relations between Romania and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
All in all this problem formulation should give me the direction to a good analysis of the cooperation between Romania and NATO and why this relation was possible at the beginning.
Theory and Literature
This part, dedicated to the theory on which this project is based on, plays an important role in preparing the project for the analysis part. The quality of the theory part depends mostly on the previous academic experience, what we have studied before and what research we have on the particular subject. Moreover this part depends on what we choose in terms of books, articles and studies regarding the selected theory.
After previously thinking about the subject of the project and setting straight the problem formulation I started the process of selecting the material for the theory part. This process of selection is composed by two stages of selection, the first one on which we select the materials after title, description and recommendations and the second part where we select the material after reading and getting them trough our personal filter. Given the large amount of texts, books, articles available on the subject we found the suitable for this project.
This project is about the North Atlantic Treaty Organization also known as the North Atlantic Alliance and it’s now member country Romania. Since NATO is a political and military alliance which essential purpose is to safeguard the freedom and security of its members through political and military means[25], I have selected the book of Stephen M. WALT, “The Origins of Alliance” as a major inspiration in terms of theory for this project. In this book, Stephen WALT presents the balance of threat theory and how states respond to threats. He focuses on the Middle East example but his study is very useful for our subject and we will try to use it in order to explain the NATO enlargement especially with the first and second wave of Eastern European countries. In this context, we will use Stephan Walt’s work in order to explain why Romania needed NATO and vice versa.
One of the theories from Stephen Walt’s book is the balance of threat theory which is our theory for this project, in order to help us explaining the approach between NATO and Romania. We can relate this to Romania’s will to reduce the threat possibilities from the region by joining the North Atlantic Alliance. From the other direction, NATO wanted to acquire Romania as a member especially for the geostrategic position than can help in balancing the threats coming from the former Soviet Union and the Middle East.
In his book Stephen Walt uses three main questions in order to describe the ideological affinities between superpowers and their protégés. The questions are related to what the two parts have in common, in what measure the common characteristics encourage or discourage the coalition and what conditions affects these tendencies of coalesce. In addition a very interesting fact pointed by Walt in his book, is related to the coalition between a group of states with similar particularities with other states that are in a process of changing but are willing to focus on the same particularities as the main group. In this case, the two waves of NATO’s enlargement represented an important step for the main group of members. Practically, the new European democracies in the 90s, including Romania, expressed their will to be part of the biggest political and military alliance.[26]
A relevant part of Walt’s book for our analysis is the first part of the Explaining Alliance Formation chapter called Alliances as a Response to Threat: Balancing and Bandwagoning. In this context, as Walt state, states join alliances to protect themselves from states or coalitions whose superior resources could pose a threat. It was clearly that after the end of the communist regime after the December 1989 Revolution and even with the collapse of the Soviet Union, Romanian was still threaten by the Russian Federation and its influence in the region. Wanting to align with the Western European states have got Romania in the position to consider, in the beginning of the 90s, a future NATO membership which will eliminate the possibility of Russian Federation to have an influence over Romania.
This is an emulation of Walt’s theory over the case in which Romania joined NATO comes to help us with answering the main question of this project: Why NATO needed Romania and why Romania needed the Alliance?
In addition to the balancing behavior, we can also relate the subject to the foreign aid from Stephen Walt’s book. “Foreign aid is a special form of balancing behavior. Therefore, the greater the external threat facing the recipient, the greater the effect of aid on the alignment.” This is one of Walt’s hypotheses on the Foreign Aid and Alliance Formation. We can easily relate the foreign aid, as special form of balancing behavior, to our subject. The relationship between Romania and the United States has been influential on the future NATO membership of the Eastern European country. So first we had the Strategic Partnership between the United States and Romania which ultimately was in the benefit of a future relation between NATO and Romania. “Strong deep ties connect the people of the United States and Romania through cultural, economic, and scientific relations. The Strategic Partnership reflects the excellent and broadening cooperation between our countries to promote security, democracy, free market opportunities, and cultural exchange.”[27]
In this sense, Walt’s work on the subject also offers us a direction in terms of foreign aid and alliance formation. One of the hypotheses presented in Walt’s work is that the more aid one country or group of countries can provide to others, there are many chances that the two sides will align and form an alliance. In the NATO – Romania example, the Eastern European country has focused on the North Atlantic Alliance in order to get rid of the influence exercised over the past century by the Soviet Union. Also identified Walt’s book is the fact that the foreign aid, in our case provided by NATO, can be tempting for a country to align with others. [28]
In our case, we cannot say that the major factor for Romania to align with NATO was not the external threat exclusively, but more of a combination of factors. It is true that Romania was found in the 90s between two regions of security instability, Yugoslavia and the former Soviet Union, but this was only a piece of the whole puzzle. Romania also wanted stability for itself and to focus its attention to the West, to restore the historical influence exercised by the Occident in Romania.
So Stephen Walt’s work is more than relevant to this study and we will further mention its work in the remaining of the project.
A helpful work for this project was the book of Alexandra GHECIU called NATO in the “New Europe”: The Politics of International Socialization after the Cold War. This is not a theory related work but more of a description of how “NATO has carried out systematic practices of socialization in an attempt to promote a particular set of liberal democratic norms” in the former Eastern Bloc countries and extend the Atlantic community into a region that, up until 1989, was associated with the inimical other of the Western world.”[29] We can see here how countries such as the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania began interacting with different organizations in the international community and especially with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. This interaction debuted shortly after 1989 and the fall of the Soviet Union when these countries started to show their interest toward the West. From the other standpoint we can see the how NATO wanted to transmit its values and norms into a region that was previous influenced by the Soviet Union.
This work is based on the experience of Alexandra GHECIU in Romania and other Eastern European countries alongside knowledge gathered from International Relation experts from Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania. This will help us understand some of the changes that took part in the countries from the former Eastern Bloc, changes that helped in the approach towards the Euro-Atlantic community. Also we can see a perspective of how NATO has used a series of practices to promote the Western-like governance into countries that presented the potential to become the Alliance members. In this way we can see the importance of Romania entering NATO with the “second wave” of countries, alongside Bulgaria and Slovakia, Slovenia and the Baltic States, in which Romania was more prepared not only from the military point of view but also by political and economic perspectives.
We have here a book where we can see and analyze the importance of the NATO’s promotion of liberal democratic norms into the Eastern Europe where at that time “future” leaders were trained in the spirit and sharing the values of Western democracies.
Moreover it is a well done record of events since the beginning of the interactions between Romania the North Atlantic Alliance and does not interfere with the balance of threat theory.
In addition to the theory presented by Stephen Walt in its book “The Origins of Alliance” and the details from Alexandra Gheciu’s book we can identify a series of other materials very helpful in the analysis and in the process of writing the entire thesis. One of those materials is the NATO Membership Action Plan which is relevant in terms of understanding how the integration process of Romania. Since the Membership Action Plan is a programme of advice, assistance and practical support specially build for the individual needs of the countries that want to become a member of the Alliance helped us in understanding what were the demands for Romania to become a member and how did the country fulfill those demands.[30] It is important to mention that Romania was one of the first countries to become a member of the Alliance trough the Membership Action Plan after the pervious experience of the first wave when countries like Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary joined NATO.
Other significant contribution to the project was brought by official documents especially from the Romanian side. We have to mention first the Romanian National Security Strategy built-up in 2007 after Romania was member of both the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The National Security Strategy responds to the legitimate need and obligation to protect against risks and threats which can endanger the rights and liberties of humans and the national values and interests.[31] One other important document is the analysis from the Declaration of the Romanian President Traian Basescu in front of the Parliament which took part on the 4th of April 2014 with the occasion of marking a decade of Romania in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and its structures. In this declaration, the President underlines the achievements of the country during a decade of membership, and how Romania became a strong promoter in the region and internationally of the values and norms shared with NATO. The President also mentioned the strong cooperation with the United States, cooperation which made possible the placement of several Military Airbases and the Missile Defense System from Deveselu possible.[32] In other words, we have official documents and statements in order to see the exact results of the cooperation between the two sided and how every part benefited or not from this integration. From the majority of the statements and the official documents presented by both Romania and NATO we have a win-win situation even if we will see some difficulties encountered in the integration process.
Ainius LAŠAS work called, European Union and NATO Expansion –Central and Eastern Europe has also been very helpful in terms of studying the NATO expansion and the approach on Romania’s case. The book is also studying the case of European Union expansion and how the NATO enlargement represented a favorable experience for the countries that had further entered in the European Union. Romania was also one of the countries that have become a member of Union three years after joining the North Atlantic Alliance. We will see what impact had the NATO integration on preparing Romania for the full Euro-Atlantic integration.
This book is also a good opportunity of reafing about how the European displays of influences have changed over the years, beginning with the end of World War II. Also it is a good opportunity to learn how the changes that came after the 1989 Revolution in the national level influenced Romania’s interaction with the international organizations and especially with the North Atlantic Alliance.
Having a complex approach over the subject in the book of Ainius LAŠAS we can also find some critique over Romania’s and Bulgaria’s entrance in the Alliance with some interesting views over the economic and political reforms. This can help us see some critique perspective over the first and second wave of enlargement.
One other important piece of work for the project is the book of Zoltan BARANY called The Future of NATO Expansion - Four Case Studies, which comprise among other three, the case of Romania’s integration in the North Atlantic Alliance. This is a study that focuses on the second round of the NATO enlargement which includes the case of Romania. Given the subject this represents a good opportunity to have another view on the enlargement in order to have a better personal opinion about the subject. We can see on what level Romania was prepared to enter the Alliance and we can compare with the other three cases presented in Barany’s book. In the analysis, we will use the book in order to support the arguments of why Romania needed NATO and why the Alliance needed the Eastern European country as its member.
So, alongside the theory of Stephen Walt regarding the balance of threat, we have presented here a series of works that are and will prove as useful in the remaining of the project. To be very clear, we have only one theory on which the project is based and the other works are mainly analyses over the subject and without any interference with Stephan Walt’s theory.
Analysis
1 Romania between Eastern Past and Western Future
In order to be more effective in proving the necessity of NATO membership for Romania, we have to analyze the recent history of the country. This chapter is set to follow the changes registered in the country after the 1989 Revolution and the fall of the Communist Era. We will see how the reform in the Military System has created a more appropriate level for the future integration and we will follow the changes in the Romanian leadership, changes that influenced in setting the path for the country to become a member of the North Atlantic Alliance.
Romania’s past is far from being forgotten. After the World War II ended we have witnessed the split between the Eastern bloc and the Western countries alongside the divided Germany. Romania was set to be under the Soviet Republic strict guidance (George Marshall’s discourse). After a period that lasted more then forty years Romania have went to the challenge represented by communism and illustrious leaders such as Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej or Nicolae Ceauşescu, characters that alongside the system have poisoned Romania, toxicity that has and is still affecting Romanians today. After the Romanian Revolution in 1989, the country’s horizons have enlarged. After 1990, a democratic multi-partite system was reformed and a Parliamentary system was re-established. Things have began to change radically, a new and free press has emerged and in 1991 a new Constitution was adopted, guaranteeing human rights, ensuring full political rights for minorities, and establishing the Rule of Law among a host of other, old-fashioned, western-style laws shaped in full accordance with established democratic values.[33] New perspectives and new opportunities were in play and the country’s international relations began to multiply. During the `90 Romania’s role in the region has became more important then ever given the status of a bridge between the Middle East and the West. Two main elements defined Romania as a link to the Middle East. First is the Danube river that it the link between Rotterdam’s and Constanta’s ports which is the main naval link of Europe. The second element is the Black Sea which links Romania to all the countries on the Black Sea area and also represents a link with the Mediterranean Sea trough the Dardanelle and Bosfor straits.
In the 1990s Romania also went to a process of Political stabilization being a new democracy. During this period Romania proved its political and economic role in the region. Also the geostrategic element became very important for Romania and its partners in the region. Since 1989 until 2000 Romania have passed trough three successive and successful transitions of Presidential and Parliamentarian power, and proved that is a democratic Nation governed by the Rule of Law. The country encountered numerous problems in terms of political and economic reforms but in terms International Relations and Diplomacy, Romania managed to advertise its will and availability for a future integration in the structures of NATO.
In a period of twelve years Romania progressively raised interest for all of the Euro-Atlantic structures, starting with the European Commission, NATO and ending with the European Union. This can be seen as signs of historical reclaim and reconciliation after the Communist bloc has fallen. The interests of Romania began to rapidly shift from East to the Western democracies. Given the fact that Romania was strongly linked with the Occident before the start of the World War II, this was not something unfamiliar in Romanian consciousness.
Alongside other changes that took place in Romania during the 90s one of the most important as for a future NATO integration was the Military Reform. The reform began right after the new political regime was established and a new Constitution was adopted. This process was not easy but there were lots of elements of real usefulness for the ongoing reform process. Romania Military System was at that time one of the strongest in the region, given by the number of soldiers and equipment.
The Military Reform was of an extreme importance for a future NATO integration but also to ensure that Romania has a strong regional role in terms of joint defense systems. It is known that Romania was part of the OSCE and participated at a great number of coordinated programs. Military Reform was focusing first on the Defense transparency that was ensured by an open defense planning and organizing the budget processes which is discussed in detail within the specialized Defense Commissions of the Parliamentarian Chambers and approved by the Parliament. The major role of the transparency is that the public should have access all time to the process of military reform.[34]
One of the most important facts about the reform is that its implementation was independent of a NATO invitation to join its structures. At the time Romania signed the partnership with NATO “the preparations for membership have accelerated the reforms, providing the necessary framework for streamlined efforts and assuring that selected priorities are followed.”[35]
The entire Military Reform process has been enjoying a strong political a public support. The support was not only for the reform but also for restructuring and building the forces necessary not only for national security but also for the contribution to the peace and security of our country in the region and in Europe as a whole.[36]
The military reform in Romania was proven to be effective especially in preparing to align the Armed Forces to the NATO structures. Mentioning the key areas of military reform is very important to show what really changed during the 1990s: 1. Force Restructuring and Readiness; 2. Defense Planning; 3. ASOC (Air Sovereignty Operations Center) Implementation; 4. Language Training; 5. Participation in Peace Support Operations; 6. Military Education and Training; 7. Armed Forces Modernization; 8. Human Resources management; C4I (Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Information System) 10. Logistics and infrastructures.
Since we have mentioned the Military Reform, we should speak, inevitably about the changes in Romania’s leadership during the 90s, changes that influenced not only the political and economic reform but also how Romania managed to interact with the European Commission, NATO and the European Union.
The firs years after the 1989 Revolution, Romania was confronting with political instability and conflicts between political and union leaders. Since 1989 until 1992 Romania’s Government was ruled by FSN (National Salvation Front) which was a party formed by a part of the leaders that were responsible for the 1989 Revolution. Under FSN, the country confronted with political instability and few steps were taken towards a complete reform process. After 1992, when PDSR (Social-Democrats) won the elections, the country reached a certain level of political stability although the democratic reform process was slow.
Regarding important changes in Romania’s leadership we should mention the last four years of the 90s, the most progressive period since the 1989 Revolution. Although progressive, the lack of political continuity and commitment toward agreed targets has turned once again Romania to the communist legacy.
[Finally, the tables turned in 1996. In the June local elections opposition parties scored a number of impressive victories. Even the former tennis star, Ilie Nastase – supported by the Party of Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR, formerly DNSF) – was unexpectedly routed in his quest for the mayoralty in Bucharest. The November 1996 national and presidential elections resulted in the triumph of the Democratic Convention of Romania (CDR) – comprised by fifteen disparate groups including greens, liberals, and Christian Democrats – and its presidential candidate, Constantinescu. These developments were widely anticipated to signal the advent of a positive shift toward more democratic politics. In a short time, the president and Victor Ciorbea’s new coalition government made some painful but necessary economic decisions and embarked on a enlightened minority policy (the Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania [UDMR] became a member of the coalition and had cabinet level positions in it. The favorable reception of the new Romanian political and economic orientation was also reflected by the country’s national prestige.][37]
The NATO enlargement has began in the late 90s when the U.S. Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright presented four reasons for NATO enlargement: to protect against future wars in Europe, to strengthen NATO by adding capable new allies, to defend Europe’s gains in democracy, peace and integration, and finally, to right the wrongs of the past.[38]
[NATO’s enlargement will show that those countries, which at Yalta had their destinies chosen for them, will in the next century be shaping their own destinies as free and independent countries. It is both a moral as well as a self-serving obligation that we have towards the new democracies.] [39]
One of the most important step towards Romania’s intergration in the NATO Structures was the period between 1997 and 1999 when the dialogue between NATO reprezentatives and the Romanian side has intensified even and after the announcement of the first wave of enlargemen with former Communist bloc countries, in which Romania was not included. At that time, the U.S. and the U.K. have argued that although Romania had carried out important reforms under the leadership of President Constantinescu, it still had a long way to go before it could be seen as sufficiently Western-like, that is, liberal-democratic, to be eligible for an admission into the Euro-Atliantic security community.[40]
Romania encountered a problem on its way to Euro-Atlantic integration that the first-wave did not. The condition of democratic, liberal reform was not sufficient for a country to enter the Euro-Atlantic structures anymore. Romania accepted this idea and although not sure about the NATO integration continued the process of post-Communist reconstruction. After the 9/11 events, the unprecedented importance attached to threats posed by actors like Al Qaeda led the allies to rethink the balance between freedom and security within its limits. NATO presented a new vision to be more involved in interaction with Central and Eastern European countries. This vision found expression in a series of institutional arrangements that were established in the aftermath of Washington Summit. [41] The fact that Romania came close to being accepted in the first wave had a positive impact in terms of continuing the cooperation process between the government and the Alliance experts in order to complete the integration. This fact is stated also in the book of Alexandra GHECIU: “Of all the countries excluded at the Madrid Summit, Romania was one of the countries, if not the country, that was the closest to being admitted. It is thus valuable to examine the reasons for the exclusion of this controversial candidate, and to analyze the nature of interaction between NATO and Romanian actors both before and after the Madrid Summit. As we shall see, NATO carried out a comprehensive set of socialization practices, and enjoyed a reasonable degree of success. Romanian actors accepted, even proactively sought, NATO’s guidance in reforming their country, even though, as mentioned above, they had no guarantee that Romania would be included in NATO as a reward for their reform efforts.”[42]
In the last years of the 90s Romania registered some consistent improvement in the political and economic levels. A series of reforms started by the current leaders at that time have been working towards the development the country. In that context the attention of the International Community and especially of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was raised. After numerous consultations and discussions over the integration of Romania in the first wave the decision was to leave the country outside of the group of three countries consisting in the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary. Years after the decision, NATO official recognized that Romania was the closest to join the group of three in the first wave. This decision actually worked in its favor. The North Atlantic Alliance began a process that would help Romania develop more and more, especially political and economic terms.
During several years NATO applied some teaching practices. They began with the Romania Political Elites. The teaching process was carried out within a series of forums such as accession dialogues, consultations and debates between Romanian leader and NATO officials. We have one example that show how things have worked during the late 90s. During the year 1997 a team of British advisers and senior Romanian defense and foreign affairs officials started the consultations aiming the process of adopting democratic policies and building NATO-prescribed liberal democratic institutions in Romania. [43] These teaching practices were not encountered in the integration process of the firs wave countries that entered the Alliance. For many reasons, the fact that Romania was set to become a member in the second wave of the NATO enlargement worked in favor of our country.
Leaders from that time supported and shared the values of the Alliance but NATO also assured trough a series of programmes that the future leaders share the vision promoted by its structures. NATO organized a series of educational programmes aimed at shaping the ways in which future Romanian leader would interpret the world, and how they would define the standard of behaving in both national and international contexts. These educational practices focused on the future elites are similar to those practices for that time leaders. One example of institutions that assured the future prospects of Romania is the Marshall Center for Security Studies.[44]
An important aspect about NATO’s work in Romania during the late 90s was the close comparison with first-wave members, especially with the Czech Republic.
We should not forget that although Romania was forced to become a communist country under the Soviet influence after the Yalta Conference and that the identity of Romania was not similar to those countries that were under the Russian influence even before the beginning of the World War I. With an identity of the “bridge to east” and rather influenced by the French culture rather than the Russian one, Romania was historically more of Western driven country.
In the 90s Romania came with an irrefutable damage made by the Communist era in terms of liberal and democratic values. Ironically, Romania’s relations with the West were quite strong even in the communist era and especially under the leadership of Nicolae Ceausescu, who was one of the few communist leaders that have had strong relations not only with the Western Europe but also with the United States. He was considered a “bridge” between the United States and the Middle East because of Romania’s good relation with regional leaders. Romania in the 70s and 80s was the first country in the World in terms of export of oil extracting and refining equipment. This proves that Romania’s history was inclined towards West even in “darkest times” of Soviet influence.
Nonetheless, Romania had to think about reform and liberal and democratic values in order to enter the NATO and EU structures. This, combined with NATO’s international socialization practices had given Romania a great opportunity to cooperate with these Western structures towards its on evolution and to the acceptance in a larger family that share certain values and ideas.
This chapter is focused on analyzing Romania’s modern and contemporary history in order to have a better understanding of how the country has returned to its western-like roots after a communist period of more than half of a century. This part is important in order to understand why a newly formed democracy wanted and needed to be part of an alliance characterized by liberal and democratic values in order to help its development. Also we should be able to see the opportunity of the North Atlantic Alliance to plan its enlargement in the region trough the cooperation with Romania.
Since we should relate this part of the project with the “balance of threat” theory we will explain the shift of Romania’s towards the Western Europe and the United States as an action of understanding the damages of the Communist and the bad influence which the Soviet Union represented. As Walt said, states join alliances to protect themselves from states o coalitions whose superior resources could pose a threat.[45] Unwilling to risk an influence of the Russian Federation, Romania has expressed its intentions to have close relations with the Western Europe and North America. In this direction the obvious choice for Romania was to become a member of the North Atlantic Alliance. First steps towards this direction have come early in the 90s promoting these intentions on a diplomatic level. In 1994 Romania was already signing the Partnership for Peace, NATO’s first and most complex format of cooperation with states outside the organization.
2 Understanding the Past Problems and the Future Hopes
For Romania the past problems are defined by the end of the World War II, the influence of the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and the continuous battle with the remains and influences of the Communist Era after the 1989 Revolution. During the 90s, Romania began to understand how its past is affective the evolution in both national and international contexts.
The name and idea of this chapter came into my mind after reading the word of the U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Madeleine Albright during the NATO Summit in Brussels. President Bill Clinton sent Madeleine Albright, State Department and Senior Adviser Charles Gati and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Shalikashvili, three of the most prominent Eastern European expats, to pay visits into Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania.[46]
One of the most important past problems was that after the Yalta conference, the future of many countries has been decided by others, things that must not be forgotten. It is case of countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Since its inception, NATO seemed to have had very little to do with the promotion of democratic values and norms; rather, its paramount concern has been security.[47] Significant changes were made in the NATO policies only after the first wave of Eastern European countries integration. Romania has been one of the first countries that encountered NATO’s interest in terms of possibility of promoting the values and norms of the Alliance, as being part of the second wave of countries that joined the organization. We can say that Romania benefited from this and an accelerated process of reform and restructuring helped Romania reaching future goals.
For Romania, past problems are synonyms with Communist and neo-Communist rule for more than fifty years. In the late 90s Romania registered a period of strong reform after more than seven years of actual stagnation. This reform period has proven not enough for Romania’s dream of becoming a NATO member. Speaking about Romanian people’s opinion regarding NATO, most of them supported the idea that Romania can become a strong ally in Eastern Europe. Although supportive about accession into NATO structures, Romanians were not so overwhelmed by the idea of foreign military presence on their territory and the use of the territory in military purposes. It is known that the political actors from Romania interested in NATO integration were the pro-West reformers but they were not concerned about a possible threat of military aggression against Romania.[48] So we could more or less say that the interest of Romania’s integrations in the Euro-Atlantic structures was driven first by the will to gain more trust by the West and raise the credibility of the western investors to come to our country.
In the beginning of the 90s Romania’s capability of reconstruction was slow mostly because of the low rate of foreign investment. Alongside other gains Romania’s wish to be part of a structure such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was motivated by the link between NATO membership and economic growth influenced by the influx of Western Capital.
Speaking about the Military Reform, Romanian specialists in the field were interested in the evolution of the defense system in their country influenced by the NATO accession. This interest was not a result of fear of an attack on Romania’s territory but more of a wish to change the reputation in the region. Moreover Romania wanted to become a powerful player in a region dominated by Russian influence where we have the cases of Ukraine, Republic of Moldova and especially the Black Sea. Romania’s opening to the Black Sea represented a great opportunity in both geo-strategic and economic terms. Although Romania was a Communist country and part of the Eastern Block its relation with the Soviet Union and later the Russian Federation was not a close one. So the wish of Romanian leaders, foreign affairs and military specialists was that Romania should become an important player in the region but only under the NATO close supervision.
For Romania at that time was very important to understand its priorities regarding a future integration in the Euro-Atlantic structures. Given that NATO did not accepted Romania from the first wave of Eastern Countries proved to be a key element in the future of Romania. We cannot doubt that the rejection was a good thing for political leaders and for the people at all. This thing proved that without strong commitment towards liberal and democratic values promoted by NATO and significant results in the reform process, the West is not prepared to accept Romania into their yard.
After Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary joined NATO in 1999, marking the first wave of Central European countries that enlarged the Alliance, it was clear that in the next wave, Romania, Slovenia and Austria are likely to be the next members early in the twenty-first century. This enlargement showed the will of NATO to create a large security system in Europe, in close cooperation with the European Union and the European Commission. In close cooperation with NATO enlargement, the EU enlargement will also help build a more secure system of countries and with the support of the United States, former Eastern Bloc countries should be able to recover both economical and politically. The support of the United Stated should not be misinterpreted as a coordination of the European Security. Security in the European region is now more of a Europe’s concern rather than the United States’. At the time when Romania was ready to enter the North Atlantic structures, one of the most important concerns of the Organization was the cooperation with the Russian Federation. It was very important that both the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization should have a close cooperation with Russia. This cooperation was realized trough institutions such as the NATO-Russia Permanent Joint Council and the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council. In addition to those institutions the presence of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund and Council of Europe was very important in the development of the relations between Russia and the Western Structures. These relations will also help Russia develop.[49]
An important aspect to mention is that one of first supporters of Romania’s integration in the North Atlantic Alliance was France in time of President Chirac. Since the support was official a series of campaigns in terms of public relations took place. The fact that France was a supporter for Romania’s integration in NATO was considered extremely important for the future integration process.
After Romania failed to accompany the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary into the first wave of NATO enlargement, the trust of the leadership into the Alliance was not lost. Moreover, the decision and the fact that Romania was the first under the line was a motivating factor for the country’s elite. In terms of internal changes, Romanian political leaders began a process of publicly support the country’s integration. In terms of cooperation Romania was more then ever determined to do what is necessary in order to become a member. After the announcement of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that the requirements for membership have change due to some difficulties encountered in the case of the Czech Republic, the continuity regarding the political and economic reforms was a must for Romania. After the successful period between 1996 and 1999 where the reform process was accelerated, the shift of power in the Romanian leadership was not that beneficial for the continuity of the process. Although much more slow, the reform process continued and by the end the year 2000, Romania started adopting new laws and make adjustments in order to continue its road to become strong democracy with a stable economy. Since the Romanian new government expressed its will to continue the integration process by accelerating the political and economic reforms the North Atlantic Treaty Organization began implementing the strategy to help the country in the integration process.
As we have previously mentioned in the first chapter of the analysis, NATO started among other practices, a programme to train the future elites. This programme was implemented not only in Romania but in several Central and Eastern European Countries. The programme consisted in teaching and training young officials from the Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs. The young officials participated at courses held in various Western centers such as NATO Defense College, Marshall Center and the Geneva Center for Security Studies. In addition there were other centers that organized training courses such as Vienna and the NATO School in Oberammergau. In these centers, Romanian students and trainees learned not only the Western-like values but they also learned how to deal and react under different scenarios. The goals of the teachers consisted in shaping the behavioral patterns and the beliefs of the students from Central and Eastern Europe.[50] Alexandra Gheciu mentioned that the data about the educational activity was collected in Vienna trough participant observation.
In the context of the future involvement of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Eastern Europe, the influence of the European countries should raise and overpass the one of the United States. Since the idea of a NATO enlargement in Eastern Europe first appeared, the United States wanted to hand over the leadership of the Alliance to Europe in order to increase their influence over the structures. The enlargement that will include countries formerly under the influence of the Soviet Union is something to be dealt with by the European leaders with the support of the United States. The countries wishing at that time to become members of the North Atlantic Alliance were between two regions of security instability, one represented by Yugoslavia and former members of the Social Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the other influenced the former republics of the Soviet Union. Romania itself was in the same situation, with neighbors such as Yugoslavia, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova had to reassure the international community of its liberal democratic values and that can help to the safety and security of the region.
“In the future, terrorism and biological, chemical, and nuclear warfare will have to be dealt with by NATO and the Atlantic Alliance. There will also need to be solidarity among NATO members to face common challenges in the Middle East and in the gulf. A commitment to defend all the countries of Europe, whether members of NATO or not, will be necessary to ensure peace throughout Europe.
Leadership of NATO, therefore, should pass from the Americans to the Europeans early in the twenty-first century. Germany is a logical choice to take over from the United State. Fears of Germany are no longer justified. Deutsche mark nationalism has replaced German militarism for the fifty years; now there is the euro currency to replace the deutsche mark. Germany is tied irrevocably to the West by the EU, the euro and NATO. It has the vision of a greater Europe that neither the French nor the British have.[…] We need Europe and Europe needs us, and world peace is best served by a cooperation Atlantic Alliance system with fair burden-sharing of military expenses and a lesser leadership role in Europe for the United States.”[51]
Since the Eastern Europe itself is in the proximity of regions such as Asia and the Middle East that could endanger the safety and security of the Europe the cooperation between Eastern European states and NATO is essential for a safer future.
At the beginning of the millennium, Peter Duignan was sure that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization will have to deal with all kind of threats and that the leadership of the Organization will pass from the United States in Europe’s field. This was an important vision with more than one year before the 9/11 events and before Romania, Bulgaria, Austria and Slovakia joined this complex politico-military security system called NATO.
In the early 2000, for both European Union and the NATO, creation of a larger security community was very important as ex-communist states such as Romania and the Czech Republic were prepared to enter the NATO structures but in different waves. The case of Romania played a more important role in the region in comparison with the others. Even though Romania entered the structures in 2004, in the second wave, its involvement after becoming a member was very important in terms of political and military cooperation. Compared with first wave countries, Romania was more prepared to enter the NATO structures. For example, the Czech Republic had some difficulties in terms of acceptance of foreign military structures on its territory but also in the political level.
In Romania, the NATO membership announcement was very important and played an important role in the credibility of the population and of the political leaders in the Euro-Atlantic structures. The year 2004, marked the debut of ascension for Romanian foreign policy and a first step towards European Union integration.
At that time, in the beginning of the millennium, Romania understood it could play an important geostrategic role in the region, and can be a trusted partner for the West in relation with neighbor countries such as Republic of Moldova, Ukraine, Serbia and Bulgaria. The access to the Black Sea was of infinite importance, both economic and geostrategic, as it is considered an important link to the Middle East.
It is important to understand that both sides here (and we have here NATO on one side and Romania on the other) had to understand the problems of the past in order to have some solution for a brighter future, together. Mentioning that NATO has only positive things to gain from Romania’s integration and that it will help the country get rid of the Communist Era burden and offer extra aid in the country’s quest to join the European Union. The fact that Romania joined NATO in the second wave, when there was an accent on the liberal and democratic principles that the Organization promoted, was of a greater importance than the acceptance of the first wave countries. This helped Romania to evaluate and then coordinate with those principles, which are principles shared by the NATO with the European Union and its partners for cooperation.
The 2004 NATO integration of Romania marked an important acquisition for the Organization also in terms of cooperation with Middle East countries. Romania was still seen as a safe ground for many countries in the Middle East even after the collapse of the Communist Regime. Before 1989 Romania’s good relations with Middle Eastern countries and those from the gulf was based on Ceausescu’s relations, as Romania was for many years the most important producer of oil extraction and refining equipment in the world. Its market was based in the Middle East, and the relations formed then are in some way still valid today.
Speaking of the 2004 integration, we do not have to think that this was directly linked to the terrorist attacks on the US soil. We can consider that the progress made by Romania, since the discussions about NATO accession debuted, should have been sufficient for a strong commitment to the Euro-Atlantic structure.
“NATO’s participation in the two main campaigns linked to the attacks of September 11, 2001, Afghanistan and Iraq, evolved gradually to involve the use of the Alliance’s infrastructure for surveillance and protection of the continental United States, the generation of forces for multinational formations in Afghanistan and Iraq, command support for NATO multinational peacekeeping forces, and operational burden-sharing allowing the United States to withdraw some troops from one theater (the Balkans) and transfer them to another.”[52]
The commitment of Romania, and the good cooperation and coordination of Romania after its integration, showed that the country was full prepared for such role in the region and that the events of the September 11, 2001 were not the key elements in Romania’s integration in the Alliance.
One of the first things that Romania did in order to set the things strait for a NATO membership was to sign safety and security bilateral and trilateral treaties with neighbors and regional partners. Beside the main purpose for these treaties they come also to support the integration process and to ensure the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that there are no safety and security issues between the candidate countries and other candidate or even other countries from the region. One of the best examples of such a bilateral treaty that proved necessary for the integration process is the one between Romania and Hungary. Hungary is one of the three countries from the first wave of integration alongside Poland and the Czech Republic. Hungary is also neighbor country of Romania and since they have few issues over a territory in Romania, the region of Transylvania. These issued had to be solved in order for both Romania and Hungary to further discuss the integration problem. So this bilateral treaty came in handy for both countries since they started the negation process at about the same time, only the Romania’s difficulties with the economic and political reform have moved the country from the first wave to the second one.
Same bilateral and trilateral treaties were signed between Romania and countries such as Serbia, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Republic of Moldova neighbors and then we have Greece, Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia and Poland as part of a process to ensure the safety of the region that lasted more then half a decade.
In terms of the military reform that will help the country integrate with all the institutions into the NATO structure, Romania has quickly shifted to professionalize the army in order to synchronize although there were many things to do in order to bring Romania to the level of member in term of the army. This fact is mentioned by in Zoltan BARANY’s work: “[… The army’s reform is the result of years of study and deliberation – three different draft programs had been prepared – and have been revised and updated with the help of American and other NATO personnel. The program the Ministry of Defense is pursuing is divided into two phases, primarily owing to the anticipated budgetary situation. Thus, in the first phase, 2000 to 2003, the goal is to restructure all echelons of the armed forces by creating corps, brigades and battalions (and gradually eliminating army and regiments). The specific goal by 2003 is to have three active duty army corps (plus one reserve corps) and totally abolish the army-division-regiment structure. Since 1989, the manpower of the armed forces has been reduced from 250.000 to 120.000; the final objective is to cut the army to 75.000 military personnel and 15.000 civilians in 2007-2010. According to the reform, civilians will take over many of the jobs currently owned by uniformed personnel.]”[53]
So the military reform was one of the most important parts of Romania’s integration into the complex mechanism of the North Atlantic Alliance. This has been possible during the previous decade with the support of the American Government who among other member countries of the organization has sent specialists in order to evaluate and update the Romanian armed forces in order to reach a high level of efficiency and professionalism.
After reading this chapter we should be able to see how the process of Romania’s political, economic and military reform has raised the interest of NATO in the country. We should see that by the ambition to become a member of the North Atlantic Alliance, Romania helped itself in the reform process. The involvement of the organization is also important especially since the integration process started. From the NATO perspective, as a benefit, Romania was on the way to become a member and started its contribution to the security cooperation process of the region. Also, in a more technical aspect, Romania managed to continue the reform of the Armed Forces with the help of Alliance specialists.
Romania found itself in a position to prepare for integration more than once. First, the country prepared for the 1999 first wave of NATO enlargement in Central and Eastern Europe in a more technical manner. Romania did not become a member of the North Atlantic Alliance in 1999’s first wave of enlargement because of the late acceleration of the political and economic reforms. The countries that managed to enter in the first wave were the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary.
Relating this part of the subject with the “balance of threat” theory and the “balancing behavior” propose the Stephen Walt, we should say that Romania, after letting Europe and United States know its intention have began a reform process and continue promoting the idea of NATO membership in terms of foreign relation. France was one of the most important supporters of the idea that Romania should join the Alliance.
The next chapter is focused on the cooperation between the two sides the benefits that NATO had before and after Romania’s integration and what Romania gained after 1994 since the Partnership for Peace was signed.. This will focus more on the politico-military aspects of security as those became extremely important after 9/11.
3 Utility for NATO and utility of NATO
In this chapter I will focus on the politico-military aspect of security, and what are the gains and possible loses from both parts from the moment of Romania’s accession in the NATO structures.
One of the most important things to mention regarding the NATO-Romania relationship is that it started as a NATO Partnership for Peace and with the support of the United States in a bilateral relation and then evolved into Romania becoming an ally of NATO.
We have previously discussed the changes that NATO brought to Romania’s elites, future elites and in terms of people conception about integration in Euro-Atlantic structures. Now we have to focus on some of the programmes initiated by NATO in Romania, since the integration.
It should be mentioned that the second NATO enlargement was as problematic as the first because of Romania and Bulgaria lack of economic and political performance. An argument for this situation is that the integration of these two countries in the EU structures was delayed due to these problems. Romania and Bulgaria’s integration in the EU was delayed with three years, until they have reached a certain level of economic and political performance, adequate to the EU numbers.
We should mention that even with this situation Romania’s accession in the NATO structures was very important at that time for the Alliance. Romania is considered to be one of the most important countries in terms of geo-strategy. It has the resources and the capacity to become a strong regional actor. It is a bridge to the Middle East, and its relative close distance towards Russia and the Caucasus is also relevant for the Allies.
Romania was seen at that time as one of the possible most important promoters of regional stability and democracy after its integration in the structures of Euro-Atlantic cooperation. The difference was made by Romania, after the integration when the reform process continued and a constant evolutional path was established. More than that, Romania, in comparison with other new members, had the eagerness to raise military expenditures beyond the 2% of GDP recommended by the organization. Also, not too much criticism was coming from Romania towards NATO, after the enlargement.
After the September 11 events, the NATO policy regarding combating terrorism and the other possible threats has integrated Romania into systems of military intervention. Starting with Iraq and the Afghanistan, Romania was and still is one of the most important countries on the military filed operations with a large number of soldiers deployed on different missions of peacekeeping and stabilization.
For Romania it was very important to enhance bilateral military relation with all NATO and EU member states alongside multilateral relations. Since 1994, when Romania signed the Framework Document regarding the Partnership for Peace, for almost a decade both sides have cooperate well and set an example for other to follow.
The document mentioned above, alongside the Individual Partnership Program (IPP), the Partnership Work Program (PWP), and the Partnership Planning and Review Process (PARP) were launched after the Brussels Summit in 1994.[54] These programs have helped Romania to in the preparation process for integration as a full member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
[In terms of objectives, Romania set at that time the following: A. Development and enhancement of military relations with NATO and EU member states; B. Development of good neighborly military relations; C. Increased cooperation with other Partnership for Peace (PfP) member states; D. Developing and maintaining the military cooperative efforts with those Nations outside our own geographical area who represent partners for Romania and its Armed Forces; E. Fulfillment of Romania’s military obligations and commitments incurred as a result of signed international agreements, conventions and treaties; F. Increased participation in world-wide Peace Support Operations and enhanced contribution to the international community’s fight against new security challenges, terrorism included.][55]
The objectives mentioned above were of major importance in order to fully integrate in military terms. Romania’s military history is one of the most important in the region, and the tradition of the service was relevant in terms popularity within Romanians. After passing to the Professional Military Service, the numbers were not reduced as much as in other countries that passed to the same level. Although conditions were far from the best and the remuneration system for such a commitment was poor, many people choose to join the military.
Although not a full member of the Alliance, Romania has proven to be a strong partner in relation with other partners and neighbors. Since 1991, Romania participated actively in more than a dozen of missions including: 1991 – Desert Storm in Saudi Arabia; 1996 – IFOR in Bosnia-Herzegovina; 1996-2001 – SFOR in Bosnia-Herzegovina; 2001- present KFOR in Kosovo; ISAF – 2002- present in Afghanistan.[56] So this proves that although Romania was not fully prepared to enter the Alliance’s structures from economic and political point of view, the military interoperability capacity of Romania was extremely high. Nevertheless the fact that Romania did not accessed NATO until 2004, in the second wave, has given the country’s elite more time to continue the reform process and to do well in both economic and political standpoints. The close military cooperation and the availability of Romania in terms of military intervention for the United Nation, the Organization for Security Cooperation in Europe, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or as partner of the United States of America in Iraq or Afghanistan has proven to be an advantage for Romania in terms of international cooperation and the support received from these organizations on the country’s way to Euro-Atlantic integration was very helpful.
Regarding Romania’s participation to military missions with NATO we have to mention the engagement in Afghanistan which is considered to be one of the most important steps taken towards the integration in the Alliance. In 2001, after the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States of America, Romania was one of the first countries to react in implementing the terms of the United Nation Security Council Resolution 1333 from 2000 which meant banning the military and security cooperation with the Taliban government and implementing the financial isolation and travel interdictions for the Taliban officials.[57] Only eight days after the terrorist attacks the Romania Parliament decided the following:
[Romania, as a strategic partner of the United States of America and member of Partnership for Peace, will participate, as a de facto ally, together with the NATO member states and theirs other partners and allies in the effort to combat international terrorism, by all means necessary, including military means.][58]
In the following months of the terrorist attacks on the territory of the United States, Romania took some important decisions regarding the US and NATO intervention to Afghanistan. Romania gave access to its territory for the transit of the alliance forces and reassured its participation to the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. Moreover, Romanian leaders agreed on the participation on the Enduring Freedom Operation after serous debate in the Parliament. Even if questions were raised during the session in the Parliament the decision was to fully support the actions of the United States and NATO forces. One example of such missions is the Operation Carpathian Thunder “in March 2003, Romanian troops searched out and destroyed a complex of caves in the Red Mountains, up to an altitude of 2,700 meters, identified by Predator reconnaissance. A few days later, acting in a support capacity in the US-led Operation Valiant Strike, the Romanians participated in the arrest of 16 terrorist suspects and the discovery and destruction of important caches of ammunition, including 107-mm rockets. On 5 October 2005, a Romanian–American team accompanied by 261 Afghan troops seized 3.3 tonnes of marijuana, tens of grenades, 15,000 bullets and other heavy armament in Paktia, 100 kilometers South of Kabul.”[59]
These missions did not only prove the military effectiveness and synchronization but also the capability and responsiveness at political level. Not to forget that the majority of the population have and still support Romania’s full Euro-Atlantic integration as shown not only by the multiple referendums organized but also by the continuous support over the years. In some aspects Romania has previously experienced the membership of the North Atlantic Alliance proven by the participation in the numerous campaigns and missions. During the years this was a strengthening factor for the United States – Romania relation which was one of the reassuring factors for the Eastern-European country integration in NATO.
Another important fact regarding Romania’s integration into the Alliance’ structures were the September 11 events and the United States launch of the “War on Terror”. The United States was and still is one of Romania’s most important ally and promoter in the World. This means that, the strong relation developed during the 90s (the relation between the two countries was in good terms even when Romania was under the dictatorship of Nicolae Ceausescu) was of a greater important for the United States in comparison with other countries in the region. After Romania became a full member of NATO, making proof of continuous development and reform process, has given the United States the chance to fully support the EU integration of Romania.
Regarding Romania’s leadership in the time when the country was thinking about NATO accession, many politicians frequently stated how much NATO needs Romania, but we should see the other way round and think how much Romania needed NATO. The former Chief of the General Staff (CGS) Constantin Degeratu said that: “Romania is the only country in Europe between the two great regions of instability and uncertainty, the former Yugoslavia and the former Soviet Union. For the sake of ourselves and Europe, we require stability. No other country in Europe needs NATO as much as we do.”[60]
During previous research on the same subject and during bachelor I have requested some professors and specialists opinion regarding the benefits of the both sides, Romania and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. I have to say that the majority inclined towards a balance between Romania’s need of stabilization and NATO’s geo-strategic plans. The Euro-Atlantic structures needed a strong partner in the East of Europe, where most of Romania’s neighbors have represented uncertainty.
In terms of Romanian leadership support towards NATO accession, we must say that the political elite fully supported the integration and the efforts were realistic in terms of both propaganda and policy towards integration.
It is very important to mention that Romania advocated many times during the 90s that it is ready to join NATO from the military perspective, but the requests were rejected every time. The progress made by Romania from political and economic perspective was in some ways a response to the previous rejections. In the last part of the accelerated process of NATO integration, Romania also had to deal with the EU aspiration. A comparison between NATO and EU process of integration does not show many relevant things so we would not spend to much time with the parallel. One of the relevant things to mention is that Romania’s process of integration in NATO was more successful than the EU integration, although the complexity differs and EU had many more conditions set.[61]
After the events on September 11, 2001, the NATO objectives changed and the implication of the United States in setting the direction for the Euro-Atlantic structure was obvious. This thing has also influenced the involvement of the United States in Romania road to NATO. Waves of support and demands at the same time were publicly made by the United States in Romania. The relationship between the two countries was getting stronger and stronger. One of the most important people from Romania’s leadership in terms of establishing a stronger relation with the United Stated was Mircea Geoana (former Romanian Ambassador in the United States of America and at the time of integration process, Romania’s Foreign Minister and President of the OSCE) who declared that “Romania intended to become a vehicle of Euro-Atlantic values to the other countries in the region and the locomotive of NATO expansion.”
Given Romania’s efforts and the long time of preparation for the integration we should not consider the September 11 event as the turning point in Romania’s road to the Euro-Atlantic family. We shall consider that Romania would have been a NATO member in 2004 without the “push” from the “War on Terror”. When President Bush, announced the starting of the “War on Terror” the whole security strategy of the United States have changed. Romania’s role was important even before the starting of the fight against worldwide terrorism, but after the 2001 everything had to be revised. Romania started playing two major roles in both NATO’s strategy and the US strategy. But given that after 2001, the United States have “taken control” of the Organization we can speak about one strategy, motivated by the fight against terrorism.
Romania has proven a close ally of the United States and of the North Atlantic Alliance even before a full member. Sending troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, Romania wanted to show the world that is prepared to play an important role in the region, no matter the strategy and other priorities. We should see that Romania is an important ally of the West that is close to the Russian Federation and the Middle East. The fact that Romania has the biggest harbor at the Black Sea is also important from the geo-strategic point of view.
Obvious progress was made by Romania since the negotiation with NATO began in the mid 90s. Certain progress was made in the economic and political levels but the most significant changes in a positive matter were made in the military field. Although far enough from the most advanced defense systems in Europe, the Romanian Ministry of Defense has been modernized and lots of professionals in the field, remained in the system.
Romania had also changed in terms of dealing and synchronizing with the policy and politics of NATO. Specialists from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization have promoted the modus-operandi of the organization and they have proven to the Romanian leaders that the vision of NATO and its policy is Western-like and in full agreement with their commitments to the Romanian people.
The fact that Romania was included in a programme focused on training future leaders was beneficial especially for the coming generations. This training was made under the close supervision of NATO advisers and specialists. Those who have helped with the reform process were in a position of changing their understanding about the international reality and national identity and have acquired a new set of liberal democratic norms of appropriate action. We have seen changes in the relations with the outside world, how the elites represented their country in the context of international relations, diplomacy and military interoperability. This process has come to change the old, communist perspective of how things should work in this environment. As the foreign were coming at that time and change views and perspectives about the capitalist economy, the process of training the future elites in the areas such as politico-military foreign relations, defense and administration were coming to change the perspective of this category of people. “We have witnessed the delegitimization of the communist alternative views of Romanian interest by portraying them as inherently irrational and inconsistent with the identity of a modern, democratic polity.”[62]
In terms of important decisions that influenced the future of Romania in the Euro-Atlantic context, we have to mention the prompt reaction for the engagement in Afghanistan. Romania has proven with the participation at the Enduring Freedom Operation at that time the “de facto membership even before the invitation to join had been extended.[…] In addition to the military involvement, Romania developed bilateral diplomatic ties with Afghanistan an extended a certain amount of aid. Romania was also essential in providing essential diplomatic support for United Nations and the North Atlantic Alliance positions.”[63]
So Romania was in a constant progress before and after the membership of NATO, but the biggest difference between when the country was not a member and the period after 2004 is that it could develop more and more its role in the region. In addition, after becoming a member, Romania also promoted NATO and its values in a region that is closer to the Middle East and Asia. The fact that Romania’s leader have managed to continuously support United Stated, its partners and NATO in every position they have taken was a demonstration of the willingness and availability for the country to become a member.
How the Presidency, Government and the Parliament reacted and synchronized their movements regarding NATO and every other thing related to the strong partners have been working the in the advantage of Romania and how the country developed in every aspect during the coming years.
This chapter briefly analyzes some aspects of the cooperation between NATO and Romania before and after the integration process was finalized and Romania was invited to join the Alliance in Prague NATO Summit in 2002. One of the most important aspects of the cooperation is represented by the participation of Romania’s Armed Forces to the some of NATO’s most important military campaigns. The fast reaction of Romania to the terrorist attacks from 9/11 2001 on the United States territory and the participation to the Operation Enduring Freedom and ISAF in Afghanistan made a clear statement on Romania’s intentions regarding NATO and the strategic partnership with the United States.
The development of the Romanian Armed Forces has come as a measure to balance the influence of Russian Federation in the region, especially when Romania has boarders with Ukraine and Republic of Moldova, two former members of the Soviet Union and the 14th Army of the Soviet Union is still deployed in Transnistria. Threat posed by the Russian Federation was still there and Romania wanted to express its intentions to be closer the Occident. Once again, the balance of threat theory comes to explain Romania’s behavior, and the cooperation with the North Atlantic Alliance and especially the strategic partnership with the United States. Of course that the “balance of threat” theory is not helpful in explaining all the parts of the relation between the two sides, NATO and Romania, and why they needed each other, but there is no doubt for the main parts and why we have relate this theory with the subject.
In addition to the threat posed by the influence of the Russian Federation in the region, since the September 11 2001 events, we have new threats coming from the Middle East and Central Asia. Romania has helped the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in the fight against terrorism and in balancing the threat represented by terrorism.
This part, in which we analyze how Romania received Military and Economic Aid from NATO and the United States, can be related to Stephen Walt’s arguments regarding foreign aid and alliance formation. ”According to this set of arguments, the provision of economic or military assistance can create effective allies, because it communicates favorable intentions, because it evokes a sense of gratitude,[…]”[64] We cannot say that this is the main explanation to Romania’s international behavior and to its will to become a member of NATO, but it can be an explanation of a part of the whole relation between the two sides.
Romania benefited from NATO’s involvement in the general development of the country. One of the most important aspects is the training and teaching offered by NATO to the Romanian future elites.
4 Romania as an important player and strong ally of the West in the region
This chapter is focused on the international role of Romania, after becoming a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. We will focus on the Romanian Foreign Policy and also on the domestic evolution, how the country prepared for the European Union integration after becoming a member of the North-Atlantic structures. Given the important geo-strategic position of Romania, it is important to follow all of the developments on the military strategy in the region of Eastern-Central Europe and the Black sea.
Romania has been on an ascending path since its membership of NATO came true. This was a proof of the Romanian people and leadership commitment to the liberal democratic values of the Euro-Atlantic structures. Since 2004, Romania continued its struggles to reform. Starting with the economic and the politic level, the country that was accepted as full member of the North Atlantic Alliance, was making short but certain steps towards a the European Union integration. We can have a long discussion here, whether the NATO membership have positively influenced the European integration process. It is true that on the political level, the progress made by Romania in its quest for NATO membership, has now its benefits on the country’s way to the European Union. But we shall also take into account that the conditions for EU integration are far more complex than those regarding the North Atlantic Alliance. A stable economy it’s a must for European integration, and the country needs more than will, to be able to change something.
Before 2004, the Romanian leadership has began to support the full integration and the majority of the population understood fast that the target for Romania is the Euro-Atlantic structures, in order to help the country develop more and more.
Since NATO integration, Romania began to understand it’s role in the region, and with the help of the United States has began to prove that the West have here a strong partner, on which it can rely on.
So, by entering the NATO structures on 2nd of April 2004, Romania was returning to its family of occidental stated, after it got separated at the end of the World War II. Romania, by its Latin origins, was returning to the western democracies, after it was separated without its will.
Since 2004, Romania is allied with all the occidental powers at once for the first time in its modern history. Separately from the NATO structures, one relation was more special than all of the others. Romania’s bilateral relation with the United States has made possible the best security guarantee for the newly integrated country. As President Băsescu stated during the Discourse celebrating a decade of Romania in the NATO structures, the good bilateral relation with the United States made possible the anti-rocket shield from Deveselu and the placement of and American Military Base on Romania’s territory. This relation made possible the organization of the Bucharest NATO Summit and a certain level of integration of the Romanian defense and security structures into the NATO scheme. [65]
We will try to focus first on the stability of the region offered by Romania, as a guarantee for the West and its allies. We are talking here about political, economic, social and military stability between two regions of historical instability, the region of former Yugoslavia and the ex-members of the USSR. Since its NATO membership, Romania has also become a member of the European Union. Although Romania was considered more or less prepared to join the EU from both political and economic point of views, the progress made towards membership and after was a proof of the continue commitment of the country to the Euro-Atlantic principles.
The economy has gained an impressive level of stability, thing that attracted the foreign invertors in Romania. On the political level there are still some remainders of the communist legacy to deal with. This is happening as I am writing, after the Justice reform reached a close to completion level. The Justice mechanism are fully functional although some steps back are made in the Parliament by voting some laws in disagreement with the western-like principles of liberal democracy. Certain changes were made and are still happening in Romania, changes that aim to continue Romania’s road to do better.
The foreign influence exercised in Romania by the West through structures such as the EU, NATO and the OSCE have and are still helping the country maintain its path to development.
What Romania has to offer to the West is of certain importance especially by its geostrategic position. First Romania has become a strong pillar of the economic and political apparatus of the European Union. Given the recent problem in Greece, Romania offers a high level of certainty in the European Union in terms of economy. From political perspective, although with some internal differences, the leadership is fully committed to EU and NATO structures.
One of the most important things to mention is the security level of cooperation, as Romania is fully integrated and synchronized with the Euro-Atlantic defense apparatus. We have seen Romania offering the military stability to the region, now being more important then ever (with the recent events in Ukraine).
On its territory Romania offered to NATO a strategic placement of an anti-missile defense system at Deveselu, in the Southern region of the country. This is a part of the defense mechanism developed by the Euro-Atlantic Structures in order to block possible attacks from the far-East of Europe of from the Middle East or Asia. This anti-missile system represents a valid option to block the attack in the first phase, closest after launching.
Also regarding the Defense strategy, Romania hosts one of the major US Military Bases in Europe, which include a military airport. The Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base is positioned in the South-East of Romania and has a close connection with the largest city in the region, Constanţa, which happens to be the largest harbor in the Black Sea. Its major role since it was build was as a bridge for the American troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
The placement of these highly important NATO objectives over the territory of the country is one of the arguments proving that Romania is the most important ally of the Euro-Atlantic structures in the region. Alongside these objectives the continuous commitment of the Romanian Army to NATO led mission is also a strong argument for Romania as a strong ally. Romania participated in numerous NATO missions even before becoming a full member of the structure.
It is obvious that Romania needed NATO to strengthen its role in the region, both political and economic. Alongside the economic and political points of view, we have the necessity of improvement and modernization in the military field. Once synchronized with the structures of NATO, the leader wanted more, a continuous development of the military forces. This process came in close supervision of the organization, and with the bilateral help of the United States, as one of Romania’s close promoters worldwide.
In balance of those mentioned before, we should also state the problems encountered, even if the country is a member of NATO and the EU, Romania is still struggling with political and economic stability. The situation is getting better and better, and the current problems should not worry in terms of lack of commitment to the Euro-Atlantic structures but should raise awareness to the country’s leadership, that for a country with the ambitions and potential of Romania, these things represents obstacles.
We have previously mentioned some of the important facts regarding the importance of Romania in the region but we should gather all under the same roof given the benefits could be treated as the same.
In the following lines I will try to analyze Romania’s contribution to NATO structures and to the stability if the region. The first thing that came into my mind is Afghanistan. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is involved in Afghanistan for more than a decade and the effort put in that direction is considerably larger than in any other case. Since 2001, when the international community has began the process of transforming Afghanistan into a more stable, safe and secure country, NATO has sent the first wave of troops alongside the UN and it has been on the command of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) since 2003. Regarding the intervention in Afghanistan of the international community, Romania shared “a significant part of the international effort” in Afghanistan from the very beginning. At that time Romania was not even a member but the efforts and the whole contribution was significant. As Romania’s Foreign Affairs Minister, H.E. Mr. Titus Corlăţean in 2012 “ From the very beginning, when Romania was still knocking at NATO’s door, we shared a significant part of the international effort in Afghanistan and paid a heavy blood tribute. We committed troops to the first UN Mission launched in 2001 and we became operational partners when NATO too on the ISAF command in 2003; and since 2004 when Romania became a NATO member we are among those Allies who regularly deployed troops in this theatre of operations.”[66]
Alongside Afghanistan, Romania is involved into the Missile Defense project. Due to its geo-strategic positioning and given that it’s a stable and trusted partner in this region, Romania has the change to prove one again why is so important for the Euro-Atlantic structures.
The second most important project of NATO and the United States in Romania is the Missile Defense Programme. This programme represents another link in the transatlantic link and also “NATO capability to adapt to current challenges and to protect not only its members but also its partners.”[67] In September 2009 United States President Barack Obama announced the European Phased Adaptive Approach (EPAA) for missile defense. This announcement has been made on the recommendation of the Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. This European Phased Adaptive Approach will be implemented over this decade and it has four phases. • Phase One (2011 timeframe) – focusing short- and medium-range ballistic missile threats by deploying missile defense systems. • Phase Two (2015 timeframe) will expand the coverage against short- and medium-ranged missiles threats with the fielding of a land-based SM-3 missile defense interceptor site in Romania; • Phase Three (2018 timeframe) will improve coverage with another land-based SM-3 in Poland; • Phase Four (2020 timeframe) enhance the ability to counter medium and intermediate-range missile and potential inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) threats to US from the Middle East.[68] Currently the plans to implement the programme in Romania are on schedule and the Deveselu Base is operational as for 2013. With the implementation of the programme Romania proves once again that the link with the United States is strong and that is an important ally in the region to the NATO and the EU.
The important role of Romania in the region is stated also by the “long term commitment to decisively contribute to promoting cooperation, stability and prosperity to its neighboring zones – the Western Balkans and the wider Black Sea region – as well as to the entire Euro-Atlantic.” It is also stated by the Romanian officials that belonging to the Euro-Atlantic community facilitate the democratic transformations, consolidates the rule of law and leads towards social and economic progress.[69]
Romania’s territory is of extreme importance, for its own development and for NATO’s future plans to a complex defense system. The Carpathian Mountains and other natural elements will help in positioning of strategic point into NATO defense system. One of the most important Military Bases strategically placed in the interior of the Carpathian Câmpia Turzii Air Base “Potaissa” , in a town located in the renowned region of Transylvania. (see Annex 1). This is one of the first examples of the cooperation with NATO. More recent examples of the involvement of the Alliance in Romania are the “Mihail Kogalniceanu” Air Base located in the South East of the country HARTA, near Constanta the oldest and one of the biggest cities in Romania and an important seaport on the Black Sea. The latest NATO investment in Romania is the Missile Defense System from Deveselu, a locality from the South of Romania. (see Annex 1)
The three locations are a proof of Romania’s importance for the Alliance, and that the military capabilities of the country are developing in order to balance the possible threats coming from the Middle East and Central Asia. (see Annex 2)
This year, Romania marks a decade of North Atlantic Treaty Organization membership and 65 years of existence for the Euro-Atlantic structure. With this occasion, the Romanian President, Mr. Traian Basescu had a discourse in front of the Parliament in which he concludes: “the NATO and further EU accession represented historical decisions of the Romanian state, expressions of the will of the Romanian people. Thus, we obtained the best allies and the best conditions for development of out country. Our North Atlantic Alliance accession has a historical value. For the first time in its modern history Romania is allied with all the western powers at the same time. The following development of the relation with the United States inside NATO, a major objective in my foreign affairs agenda, has improved the international status of Romania, and I can say, without any restraint, that in this moment Romania is enjoying the best security guarantees from the modern history of the country…The relationship with the United States has made possible the Missile Defense Base at Deveselu and the placement of other operational American military bases on the territory of Romania. The relationship with the United States made possible also the organization of the Bucharest NATO Summit and a synchronization of the Romanian security and military forces with the NATO structures. We are here to give tribute to the true heroes of Romania, the Romanian soldiers, fallen under the flag, during missions executed by the Romanian Army in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Afghanistan and in partnership with the United States in Iraq. They served the country with honor, devotion and courage…We have to tell the Romanian people that the NATO accession brought numerous economic benefits to our country. Since 2002 the year when Romania was invited to be a member of NATO, we have assisted to an acceleration of the economic development of the country, including an increased number of direct foreign investments. The placement of Romania under the NATO influence represented an intensification of the development in Romania.”[70]
This discourse is important also in the context of the current situation in Ukraine and the Russian Federation annexation of Crimeea. Romania is neighbor country of Ukraine, has access to the Black Sea and is one of the closest partners of the United States. Additionally Romania is situated between two zone marked by uncertainty, the former Yugoslavia region and the former USSR region. Also Romania is involved in the process of development of Republic of Moldova and the situation of Transnistria is of serious concern given the presence of the Russian Army in the territory.
One of the reasons for choosing this subject is the current crisis in Ukraine and the Crimeea situation. In these circumstances, Romania will play a more important role in the region and given the geographical positioning the alternatives for a possible Russian Gas crisis will have its alternative in a southern pipeline. We can also have the Nabucco Pipeline project brought back to the attention of the European Union and its partners which will have Romania put again on the map for an important fuel project.
In this direction, one of the most important aspects regarding the NATO membership of Romania is that of representing a first step towards full integration in the Euro-Atlantic Community. The European Union accession came after numerous efforts made by the leadership and the Romanian people but we should mention that an important progress at political and economic levels came after NATO accession.
But before speaking about the full Euro-Atlantic integration we will see how Romania’s importance in terms of Black Sea
This chapter analyzes the ascension of Romania after becoming a member of the North Atlantic Alliance. Romania has become an important regional player that promotes the security cooperation in the region. Moreover Romania benefited from the NATO membership in terms of foreign investments, but the Alliance can now rely on an important member that actively contributes to the security cooperation in Europe. Moreover the geostrategic positioning of Romania could be seen as one of the most important benefits for NATO and the United States. Romania’s proximity to the Middle East and Central Asia offers numerous gains for the North Atlantic Alliance.
Relating this part with the “balance of threat” theory, Romania has and still has a major role in the security cooperation in the region. Through its contribution to the security of the region Romania have helped in the overall balancing of the threat posed by the Russian Federation. Outside the region, as mentioned before, Romania has helped in balancing the threat posed by the Middle East and Central Asia.
5 Romania and the Alliance’ interest in the Black Sea region
As we have mentioned in the previous chapter Romania is important for the cooperation and security cooperation in the Black Sea region. Alongside Bulgaria, Romania is the European Union’s border to the Black Sea and adding Turkey, another regional player we have what NATO represents in this region. (see Annex 3) The three countries have been constantly cooperating, not only in an Organization environment but also with bilateral and trilateral treaties that are signed in order to strengthen the cooperation in the region. By cooperation in the Black Sea we do not mean just politico-military cooperation for the security and safety of the region but we also mean economic and environmental partnerships that have the role to develop the entire region and to protect the Black Sea from pollution and other dangerous factors.
The interest of the North Atlantic Alliance in the Black Sea and Romania’s access to it is not something new, and we can also say that the interest of the United States of America is not new either. The fact that the sea is considered Europe’s gate to the Caucasus and the Middle East is important from the economic perspective and for the economic cooperation between Asia, the Middle East and European Union and the European Countries. It is clear that one of the most important reasons for the interest in the Black Sea is the economic dimension but for NATO, the politico-military dimension comes first. We have here a region where nine countries have access to the international waters of the sea starting with Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Ukraine, Republic of Moldova and the eastern side with Russian Federation, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. For NATO the most beneficial thing is that the Black Sea is close to the potential threats, represented by the Middle East and in the current international display, the Russian Federation.
As we have mentioned before, the current situation in Ukraine and the fact that the Crimean Peninsula was attached to the Russian Federation have raised more interest for the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as well as Romania’s importance in the Black Sea region.
In the last decade, a series of NGO and official Organization have been created in order to promote cooperation in the Black Sea region. Also the governments of the countries from the region alongside the North Atlantic Alliance and the European Union have started negotiations over the influence that is exercised in this particular region. It is know that the Black Sea is divided in two major influence sides, the one of Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey on one side and the Russian Federation and former Soviet Union states on the other side. So for the security and balance in the region NATO has a major role here and it can be very well represented by its member countries Romania, Turkey and Bulgaria.
We should not forget that NATO has not exercised its influence over the region for a long period of time. The accession of Romania and Bulgaria in 2004 has balanced the influence in the region, formerly dominated by the Russian Federation and the former Soviet Union countries. In June 2004, the Istanbul NATO Summit was held and it was the very first announcement of the influence swift in the region. Although the summit was held in Istanbul, no strategy for the region was adopted. Instead, there were statements about the importance of the region, representing a borderline, given its closeness to the possible threats coming from on the Northern Africa – Middle East- Asia axis.[71]
Romania in the context of its access to the Black Sea also represents a bridge to the future engagements of NATO or the United States in the Middle East and the Caucasus.
Since 2001 and the debut of the “War on terrorism” Romania’s accession into NATO have become a priority, although the country was already engaged in the Iraq War and Afghanistan. Romania has proven many times before becoming a member that it can be a trusted partner, especially by engaging in the ISAF in Afghanistan.
In the very beginning of the NATO enlargement in the late 90s and 2004, the new borders have not only given just advantages to the Alliance but it was a source of possible problems by getting closer to regions characterized by security instability such as the Eastern side of the Black Sea.
Romania, before becoming a member of the North Atlantic Alliance was one of its most important partners and has been developing good relation with the United States and began the process for European Union integration. In this context Romania has become one of the most important actors in the Black Sea, not only in economic terms but also on the security cooperation level.
Since 2004 when Romania became a member of the Alliance numerous military development programmes have emerged and in the context of Iraq War and ISAF Afghanistan, the North Atlantic Alliance needed a bridge for the air-transport of military personnel and equipment. One of the most important operation bases of NATO from the proximity of the Black Sea is the Mihail Kogalniceanu Air-Base, developed under the close supervision of the United States Government and which has proven its utility to both American and NATO Allied Forces.
Given that Romania alone can offer stability to the region of the Black Sea by promoting the cooperation, not only in terms of security but also in terms of economic and environments, NATO has gained an important actor in the region.
One other important aspect about the Black Sea for NATO, the European Union and the United States is the opportunities to offer the wanted alternatives for the energy supplies. Since the Middle East energy resources could not be long term reliable alternatives such as the resources from the Caspian Sea and Central Asia are becoming more and more important for the Western countries and the United States. In this context the transport of these resources should have a reliable plan and the most efficient way to Central Europe is trough the Black Sea and entering the NATO and European Union boarder in Romania. This should be an opportunity for Romania to once again use its geostrategic position to prove both EU and NATO the importance as a regional actor. For the energy resources alternative to be available the Black Sea should be a safe ground and its security should be provided by countries such as Romania and Bulgaria as member of both European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Turkey as a strong partner of the United States of America and NATO member.
So Romania’s military capabilities are impressive, proved by the fast responses in both Iraq and Afghanistan as a part of the joint operations with the United States, its allies and NATO. The intelligence part is also a strong point of Romania’s integration in the North-Atlantic structures, a part which can contribute not only to the regional security but also to the safety of the international community. Although not as developed as some of the leading countries in the North Atlantic Alliance, the military capability of Romania is much more important than other country in the region and especially more important than the one of it’s neighbor Bulgaria.
To have a better comparison between Romania and its neighbors we will have to take a look at the Operation Enduring Freedom Afghanistan where alongside NATO and allied forces Romania actively participated in every aspect of the operation. “In its contribution to Operation Enduring Freedom, Romania has proportionately exceeded the capabilities of some original NATO member. Of all the European Countries that participated in this campaign, Romania was the only one to deploy a battalion-strength force, approximately 500 troops, with its own airlift. There are approximately 800 Romanian troops in Iraq and about 300 in the Balkans.”[72]
One of the most important groups of cooperation in the Black Sea region is BLACKSEAFOR, which is a regional initiative destined to strengthen the trust, friendship and good understanding between the states with access to the Black Sea. It is also meant to develop the cooperation and interoperability of the naval forces of the participating states. The participating states are Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, the Russian Federation, Georgia and Turkey which singed in 2001 in Istanbul the agreement for this group.
The group was participating in successful missions with their Naval Forces until 2013. In the current year, no mission was started due to the recent event in Ukraine and the attachment of the Crimean Peninsula to the Russian Federation. Less countries thane those six who have signed the agreement could not participate to missions as part of the programme because BLACKSEAFOR can be activated only for joint operations.
NATO has entered a new stage of involvement in Europe with the second wave of enlargement. By adding members such as the Baltic States, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Romania, the Alliance has not only benefits but also new responsibilities with a larger territory and getting closer to regions characterized by security instability. Nevertheless the trust in the new members was at high levels and in the first decade of membership, none of the countries have failed to respect and promote the values of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
In terms of benefits for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the fact that Romania actively participated in every mission since 2001 when there was only a partnership for security between the two sides, proves that the Eastern European country could be a important promoter of the liberal democratic values shared by NATO. In addition, the access that Romania has to the Black Sea offers and will continue to offer the North Atlantic Alliance new opportunities for cooperation that can ensure the security of the region.
For Romania, the access to the Black Sea and actively participating to the security of the region can lead to the development of the area of the South-East and can have influences over the politics and the economics of the country.
In the context of the recent events in the Northern part of the Black Sea, in the Crimean Peninsula, the fact that NATO has access to this region is a guarantee factor for the security of the region. With members like Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania and controlling one side of the Black Sea, NATO can easily access the region in order to enhance security and stability to the region of the Black Sea. (see Annex 3)
In the last decade, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has mentioned the importance of the Black Sea region beginning with Istanbul NATO Summit in 2004. In Istanbul, it was for the first time when the importance of the region was included in the Declaration of a NATO Summit. Since then, in every Summit of the North Atlantic Alliance, the importance of the region was included in the official declarations. We have here examples such as Riga (2006), Bucharest (2008), Strasbourg (2009), Lisbon (2010) and in Chicago (2012) where the Alliance have reaffirmed the importance of the region by developing the cooperation between the states from the Black Sea region. [73]
A very good example of how we can relate the “balance of threat” theory to this part of the subject is directly related to the Black Sea. By becoming a member of NATO, Romania has help in the balancing of threat in the Black Sea region. Before Romania and Bulgaria have become members of NATO, the Black Sea was “dominated” by the Russian Federation and the formers members of the Soviet Union. After accession of the two Eastern European countries in 2004, and with Turkey as already a member of the North Atlantic Alliance, we have two sides of influence, equally shared. The one with Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania as members of the Alliance and the others “controlled” by the Russian Federation.
This chapter is dedicated to the access that Romania has to the Black Sea. Through this opportunity, Romania has a major role in the region, contributing constantly to the cooperation process between the countries with access to the Black Sea. Given that the Black Sea is a very important commercial route, linking Europe to the Middle East and Asia. The importance of the region is raised also by the major oil and gas routes. These routes are linking Europe and the United States to the Caspian Sea, the Gulf and Asia. The access of Romania to the Black Sea is important in the aspect o security since we have on one side controlled by NATO and another by the Russian Federation and former members of the Soviet Union.
6 NATO – a first step towards full Euro-Atlantic integration
In the mid 90s, the idea of Euro-Atlantic integration was born in Romania but even the most optimistic part of the leadership and population knew that it will be a long road to achieve the level of Euro-Atlantic membership. More than a decade after this idea was born Romania was a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union in a context where the country was prepared to enter these structures but had a lot to work to be close to the elite. Romania became a member of NATO in 2004 and since then many things had to change in order to become a member of the European Union.
One of the most interesting parts is that Romania entered the North Atlantic Alliance in the second wave of former Eastern Bloc countries. The first wave was in 1999 and since then NATO wanted to stress the importance of the promotion of democratic and liberal values in a functional economy. After the experience of the first wave NATO stressed the importance promoting democracy and the rule of law in a functional economy so they started requesting different targets in those levels for countries that were scheduled to enter the Alliance in the second wave. Given that Romania entered NATO in 2004, these requests pushed the leadership to do better in order and this was helpful in the context of a European Union accession in 2007.
In 2004 when Romania was already a member of NATO, The European Council in Brussels reconfirms Romania’s accession schedule in the intervals marked by the 2004-2005-2007 milestones and after the European Commission presented the annual report on Romania for 2004, as well as the Strategy Document concerning the perspectives of the enlargement process to assert the firm support of the European Commission for the close of accession negotiations with Romania (and Bulgaria) by the end of 2004, in December the Brussels European Council confirms the conclusion of accession negotiations with Romania and reaffirms the accession timetable: April 2005 – Signing the Accession Treaty; 1st January 2007 – EU accession.
The fact that Romania was already a member of NATO did not influence the EU accession although the preparation for the second wave of integration for the North Atlantic Alliance have helped Romania to do better in terms of political and economic levels. These facts helped Romania in meeting the objectives set by the European Union in order to close the negotiation process and move to the next step.
At the end of the 90s Romania was seen as a frontrunner for the NATO membership but a couple of years later, the country leaders were not sure about the accession in the Euro-Atlantic Structure. “In May 2001 Foreign Minister Mircea Geoana admitted that while after the 1997 Madrid Summit said that the decision of further NATO enlargement would be primarily political but economic performance would also be taken into consideration.”[74]
NATO has set objectives for a future membership in terms economic performances and they have helped Romania in preparing for a more demanding accession in the European Union. The NATO – EU relation was strong and the integration into the Alliance was a good sign for the European leader that Romania can enter in the final stage of becoming a member of the Union.
It is know that since 2001 the leadership of NATO was more European, and since the September 11 events the United States took the leadership of NATO in order to a better implementation of the “War on Terror” programme. So the European leadership of NATO stressed the economic performance of Romania and Bulgaria and in a context of a future EU integration both countries were advantaged by this fact.
At the time Romania opened negotiation for the European Union integration the country had already made some progress in the political and economic level due to the preparations for the NATO accession.
Although Romania registered significant progress in all dimensions, there were still many things to do to reach the economic and political stability in order to join the members of the European Union.
This chapter is dedicated to the importance of NATO and the role that the accession in the North Atlantic Alliance played in the future of Romania, especially in term of European integration.
As we have seen above, for a certain period of time Romania was negotiating its entry in both structures, having the chance to join NATO first. At the end of the 90s Romania’s status in the quest of joining NATO has changed because of the Alliance first wave of Eastern countries that entered the structures. For example, the Czech Republic case reflects a systematic effort by NATO to build a particular type of state-identity in the former Communist bloc of Europe.[75] So we can understand that NATO’s efforts were also directed into changing the perspective of the leadership and influence the new elite in order to create democratic stability and possible economic performance.
The closest most trusted partner of the NATO is the EU so the work of the Alliance in the cases of former Communist bloc of Europe was in the benefit of a future relation of the European Union with countries such as Czech Republic, Romania, and Slovakia and so on.
At the time of NATO accession, Romania was a democracy, and a few steps forward were taken when the power shifted from PSD (the Social-Democrats) to the Justice and Truth alliance (DA) consisting in Traian Băsescu’s democrats (PD) and liberals (PNL). This happened in 2004, maybe one of the most important years in terms of European integration for Romania. The country’s accession in NATO alongside the shift of power, culminating with the surprising loss of Adrian Năstase in the Presidential Elections in front of Traian Băsescu, the current president of Romania, mark an historical year for Romanian and its people.
European aspirations were enthusiastically acclaimed by the people and also by the political leader, but many things were to be done, to help Romania mature its democracy through constant progress.
NATO integration came as fresh air for the country economy, as new foreign direct investments began to increase the performance of the economy. But in order to reach the status of stable economy Romania needed more than foreign direct investments.
The main idea is that with the NATO integration, Romania was coming closer to European Union integration, not only in terms of political and economic progress but also socially. People began to change their view and attitude regarding the Euro-Atlantic bodies.
It is also important that we should not conclude that the NATO accession would have not been enough to enter the European Union in terms of both economic and political standards. The North Atlantic Alliance has other objectives than the EU and at that time, for Romania, the situation was getting better and better in terms of European aspirations. We should not forget about the critics regarding Romania integration in NATO and EU, with a necessary constant progress in order to “firmly and irrevocably embed democracy in the country. It is important to mention that for more than a decade, considerable progress has been made but Romania had to prove that the change is more than in some instances cosmetic, and that political elites, civil servants, judges and other public-office holders have subscribed to and internalizes established norms and principles of democratic behavior.”[76]
[The most obvious has been the prospect of and progress towards EU membership; however, there has also been the desire on the part of Romania for its citizens to be removed from the EU’s “blacklist” of countries whose citizens require a visa to enter EU. Moreover, it should no be assumed that the pressure for reform has come solely from the EU. Romania’s quest for EU membership coincided with the efforts to join NATO. Given its role in promoting European security, it could be expected that accession to NATO would see presume being brought to bear on Romania to address at least its capacity to secure its external borders.][77]
Romania made significant progress in the period beginning with 2004 and since 2006, a period characterized by substantial economic growth due to the previous reforms and even political stability accompanied by support of the political leader to the full Euro-Atlantic cooperation. Actually, the support of the political leaders, after the shift of 2004 when the Social Democrats (PSD) have hand over the power to the Democrat Liberals (PDL) in both the Parliament and the presidential race. The change has proven to be benefic for Romania as the partnership with the United States started to become more important. Also the change has some benefits in terms of cooperation with the European Union in the integration process.
So the NATO accession of Romania was seen in Europe at least as the capacity of the country to secure its borders, to cooperate with other members in order to stop human, drugs and arms trafficking and defend in case o an external attack, now with the support of the Alliance. The NATO accession has given the chance to Romania to prove its capacity of cooperation within a Euro-Atlantic structure and synchronizing its military defense and security structures with those of the Alliance. Because Romania entered NATO in the second wave gave the chance to accelerate the progress in terms of democracy, rule of law and transparency. NATO stressed the problem of political stability and economic performance for the second wave of former Communist bloc countries and set some objectives in those directions too. The North Atlantic structure wanted something different from the integration of the first wave, and by setting targets in both political and economic levels, has helped Romania on its path to European integration.
This chapter comes to analyze the importance of the NATO membership for Romania in preparing the country for a future European Union integration. It is also important to mention that, by preparing for the EU membership, the Eastern European Country have strengthened its role in the region and developed new and more complex cooperation relations. So by the process of integration of Romania into the EU, NATO was more than satisfied by the evolution of the country. This means that Romania can promote better the values and ideas of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Conclusion
Since I have begun working at the thesis in February, many things have changed especially in the International Relations context. Most important is that in a period of over three months we have witnessed how Ukraine was ravished by a revolution in Kiev and the former president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych was ousted from the country due to the development of the events in the capital. After a short period in which the violent events have been reduces, we have seen how the Crimean Peninsula has passed from belonging to Ukraine under the flag of the Russian Federation. These events have been shocking for the entire international community which condemned the actions undertake by Russian Federation. The European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization had immediate reactions and expressed their concerns about how the Crimean Peninsula was annexed as part of the Russian Federation territory. Given that these incidents could endanger the security not only in the region but on the entire European continent, an organization such as the North Atlantic Alliance, with members in the proximity of Ukraine, has to be concerned about what could happen and how to react to such a display of security instability.
In the context of the mentioned events the subject of the thesis has risen in actuality and became more interesting.
We have tried to show through this project the importance of the relation between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Romania, why the two needed each other and how this relation contributes to the security of not only Europe but in a large part of the Northern Hemisphere. First a partner of NATO in 1994 then a member ten years later, Romania has proven its essential role in the security of the region since the very beginning. We have tried to show why Romania needed the membership in NATO and why the Alliance needed Romania, a new democracy at that time. The actual subject was related to the “balance of threat” theory proposed by Stephen Walt. We have showed that Romania wanted to become member of the North Atlantic Alliance to balance the threat represented by the Russian Federation. Romania did not wanted to fall under the same “curtain” of influence as after the World War II and have chosen the “historical return” to the Western Europe as the in the 19th Century and in the first half of the 20th Century. The foreign aid received by Romania from the United States of America and later by the North Atlantic Alliance was also a proof that NATO wanted to balance the influence of the Russian Federation in the Eastern Europe and that Romania wanted to
Considering that the last two decades were marked by events such as the Yugoslavian War, the 9/11 2001 terrorists attacks on United States of America territory, and the Iraq War and the invasion of Afghanistan both as part of the Global War on Terrorism the security cooperation has become more important than ever.
We have to say that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization needed Romania because the country represented a good opportunity for a later enlargement process, knowing that historically, Romania was attached to the Western Europe, especially in the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. Romania’s geostrategic position was another reason why NATO needed Romania including the access of the country to the Black Sea.
After the Partnership for Peace started between NATO and Romania, the Eastern European country has clearly shown its intentions regarding a future membership in the Organization. The intentions of Romania during the 90s and the Strategic Partnership with the United States of America, have given another reason for the North Atlantic Alliance to want the country as a member.
One other reason why he Alliance needed Romania as a member is the military capability of the country and how its territory could be strategically exploited.
After NATO refused to include it in the first wave of enlargement because of the late acceleration of the reform process in the second half of the 90s, Romania continued to show its loyalty towards the organization. By participating to the Military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, Romania gave one more reason for becoming a member, and alongside the continuous reform process the country has reached the member status.
In a general way, in accordance with Stephen Walt’s “balance of threat” theory, NATO needed Romania to enlarge, to get closer to the regions characterized by security instability. NATO wanted Romania for its contribution to a better security cooperation and to balance the threats coming from the Middle East and Central Asia. Romania also needed NATO to balance the threat represented by the Russian Federation.
From the other side, we wanted to show that Romania also needed to become a member of the North Atlantic Alliance for many reasons. The historical argument and Romania’s will to return to a closer relation with the Western Europe is very important. For the Eastern European country a way to have closer relation with the Occident is by becoming member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and then the European Union. Here we have related our subject to the foreign aid as a special form of balancing behavior.[78]
In the 90s when the Partnership for Peace started, Romania was aware of its potential influence in the region and what an important actor it can become. We have proven that Romania needed NATO in order to accelerate the political and economic reform. In other words, through the motivation to become a member and by fulfilling the requirements for integration, Romania has accelerated the reforms. It is also important to mention the assistance offered by NATO in order for a country to become a member, assistance that is one of the most important reasons of why Romania needed NATO.
From the economic perspective, Romania needed to become a member of the Alliance in order to prove that it is a safe and secure country and with certain ambitions, so that the foreign investors will help raise the economy.
Romania also needed the Alliance in order of enhance its military capabilities in order to be able to play a more complex and important role in the security in the region
The chapters from the analysis part are there to prove the necessity of one part for the other and we cannot consider them as possible separate subjects because they are elements of one subject. We have chosen to organize the analysis in six different chapters in order to have a better structure and to help the reader really understand why NATO needed Romania and why the Alliance wanted the Eastern European country as a member. The organization of the analysis in six chapters is a proof of certain analytical skills.
The fact that the subject is up to date due to the recent events in Ukraine and the necessity of security in the region is also an invitation to study more on the subject
What we also wanted to emphasize in this project is the importance of security cooperation in Europe trough the NATO structures.
Romania wanted to become part of NATO also as a security measure, given that the country is positioned between two regions characterized by security instability. The fact that Romania wanted to become a member was a benefit for the Alliance enlargement plans in the 90s.
The critique is not missing and we have analyzed some difficulties in Romania’s way into becoming a member. So yes, we have critical perspective over this relation between NATO and Romania but in time, Romania’s development came to reassure NATO that the decision to invite Romania to become a member in the 2002 Prague Summit was a good decision.
In April this year, the celebration of 10 years of Romanian membership of NATO and the conclusions drawn after a decade have come to prove that the relation between the two sides was a win-win situation. Despite some difficulties in the internal administration of the country, after a decade of membership Romania proved its capability and its role to the security of the region and to the international security cooperation. We can say that Romania became a pillar in NATO’s structures.
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6. GHECIU Alexandra, NATO in the New Europe – The Politics of International Socialization after the Cold War, Stanford University Press, 2005;
7. HUNTINGTON P. Samuel , The Clash of Civilization and the Remaking of the World Order, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1996;
8. LEANDER Anna, Commercializing Security in Europe – Political Consequences for Peace Operations, Routledge, Oxon and New York, 2013;
9. BRZEZINSKI Zbigniew, The Grand Chessboard – American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives, Basic Books, New York, 1997;
10. Dictionnaire de la Langue Française – lexis, Larousse, Paris, 1994 ;
11. LAŠAS Ainius, European Union and NATO Expansion –Central and Eastern Europe, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010;
12. Concise Oxford Dictionary edited by Angus Stevenson and Maurice White, Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York, 12th edition, 2011;
13. PAPADIMITROU Dimitris and PHINNEMORE David, Romania and the European Union – From Marginalization to Membership – Europe and the Nation State, Routledge, Abington, New York, 2008;
14. POP Liliana, Romania – The high and low politics of commercialization in LEANDER Anna ed., Commercializing Security in Europe – Political Consequences for Peace Operations, New Security Studies, PRIO, Routledge, London and New York, 2013;
15. Romania on its way to NATO – factsheets, Ministry of Public Information, Bucharest, 2000;
16. RYNNING Sten, NATO Renewed – The Power and Purpose of Transatlantic Cooperation, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2005;
17. SCHIMMELFENNIG Frank, The EU, NATO and the Integration of Europe – Rules and Rhetoric, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 2003;
18. WALT Stephen, Originile Alianţelor, trad. Camelia Boca, pref. Şerban Cioculescu Institutul European, Iasi, 2008;
19. WALT Stephen, The Origins of Alliances, Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London, 1987;
Online Sources:
1. The North Atlantic Treaty available online at ;
2. United Nations Charter available online at ;
3. The Black Sea – Romanian Permanent Mission to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization available online at ;
4. PETERSEN Alexandros , The Black Sea Security: The NATO Imperative, Wilson Center, available online at ;
5. GHECIU Alexandra – Security Institutions as Agents of Socialization? NATO and the New Europe available online at ;
6. Implementing Missile Defense in Europe – The European Phased Adaptive Approach available online at: ;
7. Romania’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mr. Titus Corlăţean during his speech on 11/09/2012 at the International Conference on “NATO and the Global Structure of Security: The Future of Partnerships” available online at: ;
8. NATO and the Membership Action Plan available online at ;
9. REITER Dan, NATO and Democracy available online at ;
10. Joint Declaration on Strategic Partnership for the 21st Century Between the United States of America and Romania available online at ;
11. What is NATO? Available online at ;
12. Romania’s National Security Strategy ,Bucharest, 2007, pg. 29 available online at ;
13. Cambridge Dictionaries Online ;
14. EYAL Jonathan, NATO’s enlargement: anatomy of a decision, available online at ;
15. Oxford Online Dictionary ;
16. Press Release – (1st of April 2014) – The Discourse of the Romanian President, Mr. Traian Băsescu, at the solemn meeting of both Chambers of the Parliament dedicated to mark 10 years since Romania’s integration in the North Atlantic Alliance and of 65 years of existence for NATO, available online at ;
17. Washington Treaty on NATO’s Official Webpage, available at ;
Annexes
1. Romanian Air Bases
[pic][79]
2.
[pic][80]
3. Black Sea Map
[pic][81]
-----------------------
[1] DUIGNAN Peter, NATO – It’s Past, Present, and Future, Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University, Stanford, California, 2000, p. 2;
[2] Washington Treaty on NATO’s Official Webpage, available at ;
[3] CARPENTER Ted Galen and Barbara Conry editors, NATO enlargement: illusions and reality, CATO Institute, Washington D.C., 2001, p. 1;
[4] SCHIMMELFENNIG Frank, The EU, NATO and the Integration of Europe – Rules and Rhetoric, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 2003, p.38;
[5] GHECIU Alexandra, NATO in the New Europe – The Politics of International Socialization after the Cold War, Stanford University Press, 2005, p.1;
[6] DUIGNAN Peter, NATO – It’s Past, Present, and Future, Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University, Stanford, California, 2000, p. 2;
[7] Press Release – (1st of April 2014) – The Discourse of the Romanian President, Mr. Traian Băsescu, at the solemn meeting of both Chambers of the Parliament dedicated to mark 10 years since Romania’s integration in the North Atlantic Alliance and of 65 years of existence for NATO, available online at ;
[8] Concise Oxford Dictionary edited by Angus Stevenson and Maurice White, Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York, 12th edition, 2011, p.34 and 36;
[9] Dictionnaire de la Langue Française – lexis, Larousse, Paris, 1994, p. 59;
[10] WALT Stephen, Originile Alianţelor, trad. Camelia Boca, pref. Şerban Cioculescu Institutul European, Iasi, 2008, p. 39;
[11] Oxford Online Dictionary ;
[12] Oxford Online Dictionary ;
[13] Ibidem;
[14] Oxford Online Dictionary ;
[15] Cambridge Dictionaries Online ;
[16] Concise Oxford Dictionary edited by Angus Stevenson and Maurice White, Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York, 12th edition, 2011, p. 1009;
[17] Concise Oxford Dictionary edited by Angus Stevenson and Maurice White, Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York, 12th edition, 2011, p. 1302;
[18] Dictionnaire de la Langue Française – lexis, Larousse, Paris, 1994, p. 517;
[19] Concise Oxford Dictionary edited by Angus Stevenson and Maurice White, Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York, 12th edition, 2011, p. 392;
[20] Idem, p. 596;
[21] WALT Stephen, Originile Alianţelor, trad. Camelia Boca, pref. Şerban Cioculescu Institutul European, Iasi, 2008, p. 64;
[22] Concise Oxford Dictionary edited by Angus Stevenson and Maurice White, Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York, 12th edition, 2011, p. 374;
[23] Romania’s National Security Strategy ,Bucharest, 2007, pg. 29 available online at ;
[24] EDSTRÖM Håkan, HAALAND MATLARY Janne and PETERSSON Magnus, editors, NATO: The Power of Partnerships, New Security Challenges Collection, Palgrave Macmillan, Hampshire, New York, 2011, p. 23;
[25] What is NATO? Available online at
[26] WALT Stephen, Originile Alianţelor, trad. Camelia Boca, pref. Şerban Cioculescu, Institutul European, Iasi, 2008, p. 247-248
[27] Joint Declaration on Strategic Partnership for the 21st Century Between the United States of America and Romania available online at ;
[28] WALT Stephen, Originile Alianţelor, trad. Camelia Boca, pref. Şerban Cioculescu, Institutul European, Iasi, 2008, p. 247-248;
[29] GHECIU Alexandra, NATO in the New Europe – The Politics of International Socialization after the Cold War, Stanford University Press, 2005, p. 77;
[30] NATO and the Membership Action Plan available online at ;
[31] Romanian National Security Strategy p. 7 available online at ;
[32] Press Release – (1st of April 2014) – The Discourse of the Romanian President, Mr. Traian Băsescu, at the solemn meeting of both Chambers of the Parliament dedicated to mark 10 years since Romania’s integration in the North Atlantic Alliance and of 65 years of existence for NATO, available online at ;
[33] Romania on its way to NATO – factsheets, Ministry of Public Information, Bucharest, 2000, p. 38;
[34] Romania on its way to NATO – factsheets, Ministry of Public Information, Bucharest, 2000,p. 51;
[35] Ibidem;
[36] Ibidem;
[37] BARANY Zoltan, The Future of NATO Expansion - Four Case Studies, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo, 2003, p.136;
[38] LAŠAS Ainius, European Union and NATO Expansion –Central and Eastern Europe, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010, p. 65;
[39] Idem, p. 79;
[40] GHECIU Alexandra, NATO in the New Europe – The Politics of International Socialization after the Cold War, Stanford University Press, 2005, p. 157;
[41] GHECIU Alexandra, NATO in the New Europe – The Politics of International Socialization after the Cold War, Stanford University Press, 2005p. 159;
[42] GHECIU Alexandra, NATO in the New Europe – The Politics of International Socialization after the Cold War, Stanford University Press, 2005, p. 26;
[43]GHECIU Alexandra, NATO in the New Europe – The Politics of International Socialization after the Cold War, Stanford University Press, 2005, p.176;
[44] Idem, p.180;
[45] WALT Stephen, The Origins of Alliances, Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London, 1987, p. 18;
[46] LAŠAS Ainius, European Union and NATO Expansion –Central and Eastern Europe, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010, p. 73;
[47] Idem p. 87;
[48] GHECIU Alexandra, NATO in the New Europe – The Politics of International Socialization after the Cold War, Stanford University Press, 2005, p. 92;
[49] DUIGNAN Peter, NATO – It’s Paste, Present and Future, Stanford University Press, 2000, Stanford, California, p. 119;
[50] GHECIU Alexandra, NATO in the New Europe – The Politics of International Socialization after the Cold War, Stanford University Press, 2005, p. 179;
[51]GHECIU Alexandra, NATO in the New Europe – The Politics of International Socialization after the Cold War, Stanford University Press, 2005, p. 120;
[52] RYNNING Sten, NATO Renewed – The Power and Purpose of Transatlantic Cooperation, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2005, p. 122;
[53] BARANY Zoltan, The Future of NATO Expansion - Four Case Studies, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo, 2003, p. 162.
[54] Romania on its way to NATO – factsheets, Ministry of Public Information, Bucharest, 2000, p. 58;
[55] Idem, p.59;
[56] Romania on its way to NATO – factsheets, Ministry of Public Information, Bucharest, 2000, p.200;
[57] Monitorul Oficial al României (The Official Gazette of Romania), 2001a. “Hotărâre 918 din 13 Septembrie 2001 pentru aplicarea rezoluţiei nr. 1333/2000 a Consiliului de Securitate a Organizaţiei Naţiunilor Unite privind situatia din Afganistan, No. 602/25, September, Bucharest, MOR Press;
[58] Monitorul Oficial al României (The Official Gazette of Romania), 2001b, “Hotărâre 21 din 19 Septembrie privind participarea României împreună cu statele membre ale NATO, la acţiunile de combatere a terorismului international , No 589/20, September, Bucharest, MOR Press;
[59] POP Liliana, Romania – The high and low politics of commercialization in LEANDER Anna ed., Commercializing Security in Europe – Political Consequences for Peace Operations, New Security Studies, PRIO, Routledge, London and New York, 2013, p. 130;
[60] BARANY Zoltan, The Future of NATO Expansion - Four Case Studies, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo, 2003, p. 145;
[61] GALLAGHER Tom, Deceniul Pierdut al Romaniei – Mirajul integrarii Europene dupa anul 2000, trad. Simona Ceauşu, Editura All, Bucureşti, 2010, p. 145;
[62] GHECIU Alexandra, NATO in the New Europe – The Politics of International Socialization after the Cold War, Stanford University Press, 2005, p. 195;
[63] POP Liliana, Romania – The high and low politics of commercialization in LEANDER Anna ed., Commercializing Security in Europe – Political Consequences for Peace Operations, New Security Studies, PRIO, Routledge, London and New York, 2013, p. 128;
[64] WALT Stephen, The Origins of Alliances, Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London, 1987, p.46;
[65] Press Release – (1st of April 2014) – The Discourse of the Romanian President, Mr. Traian Băsescu, at the solemn meeting of both Chambers of the Parliament dedicated to mark 10 years since Romania’s integration in the North Atlantic Alliance and of 65 years of existence for NATO, available online at ;
[66] Romania’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mr. Titus Corlăţean during his speech on 11/09/2012 at the International Conference on “NATO and the Global Structure of Security: The Future of Partnerships” available online at: ;
[67] Romania is one if the few countries participating to the Missile Defense Programme. Romanian leadership has strongly supported the programme since the country’s integration in the North Atlantic structures.
[68] Implementing Missile Defense in Europe – The European Phased Adaptive Approach available online at: ;
[69] Romania’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mr. Titus Corlăţean during his speech on 11/09/2012 at the International Conference on “NATO and the Global Structure of Security: The Future of Partnerships” available online at: ;
[70] Press Release – (1st of April 2014) – The Discourse of the Romanian President, Mr. Traian Băsescu, at the solemn meeting of both Chambers of the Parliament dedicated to mark 10 years since Romania’s integration in the North Atlantic Alliance and of 65 years of existence for NATO, available online at ;
[71] PETERSEN Alexandros , The Black Sea Security: The NATO Imperative, Wilson Center, available online at ;
[72] PETERSEN Alexandros , The Black Sea Security: The NATO Imperative, Wilson Center, available online at ;
[73] The Black Sea – Romanian Permanent Mission to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization available online at ;
[74] BARANY Zoltan, The Future of NATO Expansion - Four Case Studies, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo, 2003, p. 173;
[75] GHECIU Alexandra, NATO in the New Europe – The Politics of International Socialization after the Cold War, Stanford University Press, 2005, p. 102;
[76] PAPADIMITROU Dimitris and PHINNEMORE David, Romania and the European Union – From Marginalization to Membership – Europe and the Nation State, Routledge, Abington, New York, 2008, p. 90;
[77] PAPADIMITROU Dimitris and PHINNEMORE David, Romania and the European Union – From Marginalization to Membership – Europe and the Nation State, Routledge, Abington, New York, 2008, p 131;
[78] WALT Stephen, The Origins of Alliances, Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London, 1987, p. 46;
[79]
[80]
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