PERSPECTIVES CONCERNING ROMANIA’S SECURITY AS A NATO AND EU MEMBER COUNTRY IN TODAY’S CONTEXT
PERSPECTIVES CONCERNING ROMANIA’S SECURITY AS A NATO AND EU MEMBER COUNTRY IN TODAY’S CONTEXT

Author(s): George GRUIA
Subject(s): Security and defense
Published by: Carol I National Defence University Publishing House
Keywords: national security; NATO; EU; military operations; conflicts; peacekeeping;
Summary/Abstract: This article highlights the double status enjoyed by Romania on the international political-military stage, on the one hand, a member of the North Atlantic Alliance and, on the other and a member of the European Union. The NATO membership ensures the access to the process of major decision-making in the European and Euro-Atlantic security plan, providing a solid foundation for the development of its own policies, both towards the Alliance member countries and third countries. Romania's status as a full-fledged member can be transformed into a strategic advantage by exploiting the internal dynamics and its own security sector reform process for an adaptation to the changes that will take place within NATO. Connecting the military reform process in Romania with the integration process into the Alliance structures and developing the mechanisms of participation in the NATO planning systems and procedures will result in a fundamental transformation of defence and security concepts oriented towards an expeditionary approach and to the integration of their own efforts into the collective Alliance. This will entail a reconsideration of the planning of the forces by moving from a territorial defence approach, exclusively national and self-sufficient, to one aimed at ensuring our contribution to collective security. In this respect, the successful use of the infrastructure provided for the transit of the NATO member states forces on the territory of Romania for the missions in Afghanistan and Iraq was a model for cooperation to improve the Alliance's response capacity. At the same time, after our integration into the European Union, our country has gradually aligned its foreign and security policy with that of the EU to contribute to its transformation into a strong and credible factor on the international relations scene. Romania's status as a NATO and EU member changes the political situations in the region, power relations, becoming an area of political stability between regions affected by conflicts, major risks and threats.

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