Romania’s foreign policy is somewhat in an impasse due to the provisional character of the current situation, the ruling coalition’s candidate for president Crin Antonescu declared on Friday in a press conference held in Resita. He voiced his belief that as far as the US decisions are concerned, the EU must deal with them in solidarity, without „getting into panic.”

„We are going through a very complicated period, we must be united, we must be strong, we must be coherent, we must know how to defend our interests. (…) At this moment, Romania’s foreign policy is somewhat in an impasse, which is not caused by the government or the acting president, but by the fact that we are in a provisional situation. We are in a transitional state, in the eyes of our partners our country does not yet have the guarantee of stability, Romania is waiting, we are waiting and so are our partners. Yet this will change, I have no doubt, after the May 4 and 18 elections,” Antonescu declared.

He stressed that he advocates for Romania to steadfastly stick to its current alliances, to the structures it is part of – the European Union, NATO, the strategic partnership with the United States, appreciating at the same time that all these structures „need either a reevaluation or an update.”

„In this sense, the first things I believe should be on the future president’s agenda are the fully functional, complete restoration of communication and relations with the United States, clarification within the bilateral relationship, primarily as far as security aspects are concerned, with what will happen at the NATO military bases with American personnel, with our joint projects, with how the American strategic partner sees the evolution of NATO’s eastern flank and the evolution in general of this part of the world,” the former Liberal leader explained.

Antonescu also spoke about the European Union, which „has some answers to give to the questions day-to-day history poses”, in which context he referred to the tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump.

„I, personally, believe that the European Union must make every effort to maintain a fundamental relationship for the Western world, with the United States. Unfortunately, we see that every day new obstacles or new themes emerge that complicate the situation, such as, for example, President Trump’s decisions. I believe that we must not panic, we must stand in solidarity all across the European Union and find the best solutions together with the new American administration,” Antonescu emphasized.

He also stressed the particular importance of the NATO summit that will take place in June in The Hague.

„It is very important to discuss – because the United States is the leader of this organization – NATO’s agenda that is more important than ever from my point of view. The Russian-American negotiations which are currently underway and are not progressing as quickly and happily as some would have imagined will produce consequences or must be put in the same context with what we will have to decide at the next NATO summit,” the coalition candidate pointed out.

Answering a question, he said that „the reality we start from in the idea of supplementing defense budgets is not one to be happy about”, but if we end up allocating this money, „we should get a benefit, use our capabilities”, especially since there is also „a tradition in this sense.”

AGERPRES