President Nicusor Dan said, after the Bucharest 9 (B9) Summit, that the decisions taken by the participating states are aimed at keeping the commitments regarding an increase in defence spending and balancing the contributions between the European countries and the United States within NATO.
He stressed that the B9 meeting is a "preparation" for this year's NATO summit in Ankara. He underlined the importance of the transatlantic relationship for the security of Europe and the functioning of NATO.
"Broadly speaking, the decisions we took were: keeping the commitments to increasing defence spending, turning this money into capabilities that would make an alliance better prepared for threats, and balancing the contributions between European countries and the United States within the alliance. The phrase 'NATO 3.0' in the statement somehow compresses this common will of the countries that participated in today's meeting," the president said at a joint news conference with Poland's President Karol Nawrocki and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
The President said that the final statement of the summit explicitly states that Russia represents "a threat" and support for Ukraine remains firm.
"The statement explicitly states that Russia is a threat to our countries. In the statement we are talking about Ukraine, obviously, and the support that our countries continue to provide to Ukraine: military assistance, in the current phase, and security guarantees in the next phase."
Dan mentioned that this year Romania's defence spending is 2.5% of GDP, and 40% of this amount is allocated for new equipment.
Discussions also focused on the situation in Moldova, which is "in a process of hybrid war" with Russia.
"It is important for Moldova, for us, for Ukraine, for the Alliance, it is important to help Moldova, to stand up to this aggression," the president said.
He added said that there is a "concern" of Romanians about drones crossing the border.
"I talked about that with the secretary general, and there is within NATO the Eastern Sentinel project, which is progressing precisely for the protection of Romanian citizens who are affected or potentially affected," he said.
The President said that the discussions at the B9 summit were "substantive" and that the event enjoyed a "large" participation, consisting of 16 delegations. He also said that the positions of the participating states were very similar, expressing confidence that the incoming NATO summit in Ankara will be a success.
Dan welcomed the presence of NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, the American delegation and the Nordic delegations.
"The states in the B9 format, the states in the northern area have common concerns and have a common threat, Russia. That is why it is logical that our positions should be compatible in meetings, such as today's. The idea of this compatibility becoming more formal at some point, in a more extensive format than this, was also discussed," the President said.
