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US Undersecretary for Political Affairs David Hale said on Thursday evening that he had communicated to President Klaus Iohannis and Deputy Prime Minister Ana Birchall the concerns of the United States generated by the recent developments in Romania regarding the rule of law and the fiscal policies passed in December.
I expressed to President Iohannis, Vice Prime Minister Ana Birchall and Mr. Aurescu our concerns over recent developments in Romania related to the rule of law and and over the fiscal policies passed in December, which could have a negative impact on the economy and the investment climate. We continue to urge officials to reject any proposals for amnesty or any other measures that would endanger the tremendous progress made over the past 30 years toward greater security, prosperity and democracy. Such actions may potentially undermine law enforcement cooperation, erode Romania's judicial and democratic institutions, and provide an avenue for malign actors such as Russia a gain strategic influence in Romania, he said in a press statement.
Hale added that Romania has an "impressive" strategic vision for its presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Romania will assume a leadership role in intra-EU deliberations on important issues such as energy security and increased defense cooperation. These issues are important to the United States and I had an exchange of productive exchange of views with counterparts from throughout the EU, he said.
We talked about the extensive cooperation that America and Romania have in so many areas, particularly security and defense, energy and trade. We discussed new ideas to strengthen the US-Romanian Strategic Partnership, which we both value. I thanked the Romanian leaders for their commitment to bearing Romania's share of responsibilities in NATO, including spending 2pct of GDP on defense. Romania's leadership has a considerable role in encouraging other NATO members to do the right thing and to increase their contributions as well, he said.
The US Undersecretary for Political Affairs added that even before joining NATO in 2004, Romania was an "excellent partner", hosting exercises and assisting the alliance in countering terrorism.
We are proud to serve side-by-side with Romanian soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq. We value Romania's contribution to regional and global security. Our Strategic Partnership maintains our strong commitment to work together to strengthen security and defense cooperation throughout the Black Sea region and beyond. On other security fronts, Romania has been a reliable and steadfast partner, cooperating on issues such as trans-national and cyber crime, and other areas, which directly contribute to improved security for Romania, Europe and the US, he said.
David Hale mentioned that he visited Romania 20 years ago and that he came back as Romania assumes the presidency of the EU Council.
I am delighted to be back in Romania. It was a little over 20 years ago, when I visited Romania with then-President Bill Clinton, when he announced our Strategic Partnership, a strong partnership that continues today. I am here again on a historic occasion, as Romania assumes the leadership of the Council of the European Union. For the past two days I have been visiting Romania for talks with EU political directors in Cluj and for bilateral discussions here in Bucharest, said the American official.
