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ROMANIA’S VISION FOR THE FUTURE
Alongside other international organizations, NATO has an important role to play in enhancing security and supporting reforms in various areas in the candidate and partner-countries from regions such as Western Balkans, Eastern Europe or the Wider Black Sea. NATO has had a positive balance sheet contributing to the security and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area. Starting with the end of the Cold War, the Alliance has been in a permanent process of transformation, in order to efficiently adapt itself to the new security framework.
NATO’s comprehensive process of transformation is multifaceted and involves not only capacity building but also developing a wider network of partnerships with like-minded states, to tackle what I would call “threats without frontiers”, such as terrorism or proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and also another category of challenges which includes regional conflicts and failing states.
However, NATO is not only to face new threats and risks. The indivisibility of Trans-Atlantic security, collective defense and solidarity remain fundamental NATO tasks. As Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer put it, NATO must be capable to continue to meet the challenge of change. In essence, for the future, we envisage a NATO that must have a clear vision for the Balkans, must ensure its ability to address the risks and threats to our security, and must strengthen its partnerships in its traditional area and beyond.
Adrian Cioroianu, historian, is presently Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania
