DefMin Ciuca reconfirms Romania's support for EU commitments in Balkans, central-southern Mediterranean Sea, African continent

The Acting Minister of National Defense, Nicolae Ciuca, attended, on Wednesday and Thursday, the informal meeting of the Defense ministers from the Member States of the European Union, which took place in Zagreb, in which context he reconfirmed Romania's support for the EU commitments in the Balkans, in the central-southern region of the Mediterranean Sea, but also on the African continent.

"Minister Ciuca reconfirmed Romania's support for EU commitments in the Balkans, in the central-south region of the Mediterranean Sea, but also on the African continent, in efforts to strengthen security and stability in the Horn of Africa and in the Central African Republic, as well as stabilizing the situation in Mali and the Sahel region. In this regard he underlined our country's participation in EU and UN missions in the Sahel region with military personnel in EUTM Mali and a helicopter detachment in United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA)," shows a press release of the National Defense Ministry (MApN) sent to AGERPRES.

During the session dedicated to the security and defense priorities of the European Union, the Minister of National Defense supported the role of the EU Global Strategy as a solid foundation for asserting the organization as a credible and ambitious actor on the international stage, highlights the MApN. He also noted that a strengthened European defense needs better defense capabilities, as well as an enhanced ability to respond to security challenges and threats.

Minister Nicolae Ciuca emphasized, according to the cited source, the contributions of the European initiatives such as PESCO, EDF, CARD to strengthening the EU profile of relevant actor in matters of security and defense, but also their essential role in the good sharing of defense efforts in the transatlantic relationship. He also stressed the importance of ensuring coherence and complementarity with NATO for all EU defense initiatives and expressed support for strengthening EU-NATO cooperation.

The Defense Minister also highlighted Romania's openness and support for the analysis process started in order to develop a Strategic Compass Instrument, stressing the importance of a clear definition of the role of the document in relation to the other concepts and strategies elaborated at EU level. He expressed support for conducting the strategic review process of PESCO, specifying that the assessment of the implementation stage of the commitments made must be carried out in a constructive and balanced manner, which will support and encourage the development of the EU's defense capabilities.

On the sidelines of the meeting, the Minister of National Defense signed with his counterparts from Croatia, Estonia, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Poland the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation within the framework of the PESCO project dedicated to setting up rapid response and mutual assistance teams in the event of a cyber attack.