THE BLACK SEA DANUBE RIVER COURSE IS THE KEY TO THE ROMANIANS' INDEPENDENCE AND UNITY
THE BLACK SEA DANUBE RIVER COURSE IS THE KEY TO THE ROMANIANS' INDEPENDENCE AND UNITY

Author(s): Viorel-Catalin Mihalcea
Subject(s): Geopolitics
Published by: Carol I National Defence University Publishing House
Keywords: Danube; Straits; Hidropolitica; Corridor; Navigation; The mouths of the Danube;
Summary/Abstract: The Danube River crosses Romania over an area of 1075 kilometre and represents the second natural element that marks the natural configuration of Romania, which is why our country is defined as a Carpatho-Danubian country. But the Danube River is important for Romania because it flows into the Black Sea on the territory of our country, and the Danube's Mouth is an essential strategic element for Black Sea control, the second important after the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles Straits. Free navigation at the Mouth of the Danube can be ensured by a strong Romanian State "whose European Sentinel Mission has proven throughout history that it can fulfill it. For these geopolitical reasons, Europe needs in this geographical position a strong, whole Romanian State with a shore in the Black Sea wide enough to become apt to guard the Danube Mouths" (Rădulescu N. Al, quoted in I. Bădescu, Sociology and Geopolitics of the Border, Floarea Albastră Publishing House, 1995, p. 103). Nowadays, there are several elements that amplify the importance of the Danube, turning it into a major trade axis of Europe. It is the Rhin-Main-Danube Canal, connecting the North Sea with the Black Sea, the port of Rotterdam with the port of Constanta. Central European countries can have direct access to the Black Sea and from here to the Suez Canal. (Seftiuc, I., "Romania and the problem of straits, Bucharest 1980").

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