Romania risks being affected by the side effects of the war in Libya

The offensive that the Western world has started against Libyan dictator Muammar Gadhafi could be felt in Romania, as well, although it is not in the frontline of the armed conflict. The price of oil, which has been extremely volatile throughout the duration of the conflict in Libya, could rise, which would translate in price increases that could further hurt the Romanian economy, already weakened by the two years of crisis it has been through.

The price of oil has not been affected by the attacks of the international coalition on Libya because the bombing started during the weekend, but it has risen over 10% in the past three months, amid the popular revolts in the north of Africa and In the Middle East. On Friday Brent oil was trading at 113 dollars a barrel in London.

“As far as Romania is concerned, our problems are different: we have debts to recover from Libya, and if the regime changes, the countries who will no doubt have priority when it comes to recovering their debts will be the countries that had an active military presence. The same is true when it comes to winning contracts in the region,” Liviu Voinea adds. Romania has 47.4 million euros to recover from Libya.

Even if it wants to, Romania cannot get involved in the Libyan conflict because it lacks the necessary resources.

“Romania is involved in other theatres of operations within NATO with a considerable number of troops, and in terms of technical capability and logistics I don’t think we have the ability to join those countries that make available air strike capabilities,” George Scutaru, vice-chairman of the Defence Committee of the Chamber of Deputies told Mediafax news agency.