In their discussions, Romanian senators and MPs and visiting U.S. lawmakers focused on parliamentary diplomacy, and the 2024 presidential election in Romania having been annulled was approached as „a free discussion about the political situation in Romania,” Deputy Speaker of Romania’s Chamber of Deputies Daniel Suciu said at the end of the discussions on Tuesday.
A delegation of eight members of the U.S. Congress, Democrats and Republicans, led by Vern Buchanan, met at the Palace of Parliament with Romanian senators and MPs The U.S. delegation was accompanied by U.S. ambassador in Bucharest Kathleen Kavalec.
„It was, from my point of view and not only from our point of view, an extremely warm, welcome meeting, in which congress people from the two parties, together with Romanian lawmakers from all over the political spectrum, discussed both formally and informally the geographical area, the future, business and strengthening our strategic partnership. And I am very glad that we had this opportunity to exchange views with American congress people from across the American doctrinal spectrum and from different geographical areas. (…) We have obviously discussed with the ambassador and Mr Buchanan our desire to clarify the subject of the Visa Waiver in a very short time and we expressed our confidence that all of Romania’s progress over the years that allowed Romania to join this program will be resumed in a very short time. And the discussions about the annulment of the laws were just like a free discussion about the political situation in Romania,” Suciu said at the House of Parliament.
According to him, the cancellation of the presidential elections in December 2024 „was not a specific issue.”
„This issue was not a specific issue, but we simply exchanged impressions about the political situation. (…) Let’s clarify one thing and explain what happened behind the scenes. It was a lunch between American congress people and Romanian lawmakers. It was not a discussion with specific issues, it was simply an event of parliamentary diplomacy. Our American colleagues are the ones who are on a tour, they have been to Moldova, Poland, and Romania, and they will also go to Greece. It was simply a parliamentary diplomacy event in which I discussed with Mr Buchanan, and Mr Robert Cazanciuc, but each member of the delegation discussed with a member of the American delegation. It was an extremely friendly discussion and at least the head of the American delegation is an authentic businessman, he even praised extremely and not only once the progress that Romania has made in recent years,” Suciu said.
He went on to say that „it was simply an exchange of ideas on many subjects, starting with Ukraine, on the political situation, not only in Romania.”
„There was no specific issue as the issue of elections. (…) It was a bipartisan delegation of both Democrats and Republicans, and the conduct of a joint delegation is to discuss things that are beneficial to both countries. Several subjects were discussed.”
Regarding the presence of American troops on Romania’s soil, he said that he thanked our American partners, on behalf of the Romanian state, for the presence of almost 1,700 American soldiers in Romania.
„From the beginning of the meeting I thanked our American partners for the presence of almost 1,700 American soldiers in Romania, who provide our country with a pillar of stability and security. And we said in our discussions that we want – and the same thing was told to you by the head of the American delegation – [in addition to] their presence here to find other ways to strengthen this strategic partnership between Romania and the United States. The fact that in a country like the United States scenarios for the future are being discussed is obviously a concern for Romania as well. But today we are not in a situation where we have a decision from our strategic partner regarding the stationing of troops, their number in the future in Romania. (…) The policy of the United States is to reassess foreign policy, not only with regard to the eastern flank. While the American side is still analysing what it will do, we could not ask for deadlines from the American side at a luncheon,” Suciu said.
He added that such an event had not taken place in eight years.
„It is an event that I hosted at the Chamber of Deputies, because after eight years we had such a numerically important delegation, and it is absolutely normal for anyone who knows what parliamentary diplomacy means to have such a meeting. Foreign policy issues, strategic decisions of the United States and Romania, are certainly not taken in formal or informal discussions, as we had today.”
AGERPRES
