NATO officials notice Romanian progress

Romania is making progress in every field, including economy, in relation to NATO joining, Edgar Buckley, assistant to NATO Secretary General for defence issues, maintained yesterday.

Edgar Buckley stated that measures taken lately by Romanian authorities in the field of defence are encouraging, mentioning in this respect the bigger budget granted to the Defence industry and the reduction of the military number.

Edgar Buckley led the NATO delegation that, between March 5-8, assessed Romania’s progress with regard to pledges made in the National Accession Programme (ANP). ANP is the individual variant of the Membership Action Plan (MAP) and has five chapters: foreign policy, defence, finances, information and justice.

The NATO official hailed the Romanian Parliament’s adopting the Law on classified information protection (the Law of state secrecy), adding that it was necessary to introduce a clear delimitation of types of secrets, although this issue is quite touchy in Romania.

Buckley praised the consensus reached by Romanian political forces regarding the NATO joining process.

Leaders of parliament political parties on Wednesday night signed the Statement of support for NATO joining, a document submitted by Premier Adrian Nastase. The document signatories state that NATO accession remains the fundamental target of Romania’s foreign and security policy.

“Preparations for NATO membership are compatible and complementary with the negotiation process for EU joining,” the Statement shows.

The common opinion of political leaders expressed in the document shows that Romania is ready to promote and defend democratic values that constitute the political base of the North-Atlantic Alliance. “Romania is getting ready for defending itself and its future allies,” the support Statement reads.

Premier Adrian Nastase proposed political leaders to convene again next month, so as to discuss the Strategy for Romania’s NATO joining.