NATO Summit in Brussels

President Klaus Iohannis represented Romania at Thursdays NATO Summit in Brussels

Bogdan Matei, 26.05.2017, 13:42

The NATO Summit held Thursday in Brussels enjoyed the participation, for the first time, of the new leaders of three key members of the Alliance. The US President Donald Trump, the French President Emmanuel Macron and the British Prime Minister Theresa May have renewed their commitment to the Alliance. President Trump used his first NATO summit to demand European countries to pay more towards their defence.

Donald Trump: “NATO members must finally contribute their fair share and meet their financial obligations. Twenty-three of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should be paying and what they are supposed to be paying for their defence. This is not fair to the people and taxpayers of the United States.”

Montenegro took part in the summit for the first time. Starting next month, the small former Yugoslav republic will officially be NATO’s 29th member. In its turn, Romania has reached its goals at the summit, President Klaus Iohannis has said, adding that NATO remains the same relevant, strong and united Alliance. Iohannis has hailed the reiteration of America’s firm commitment to collective defense and the consolidation of NATO’s eastern border. The Romanian President has emphasised the importance of a solid transatlantic relationship and the fact that having earmarked 2% of its GDP to defense brought Romania a lot of appreciation from its allies.

Klaus Iohannis: ” I can safely say that Romania has reached its objectives at this summit. I am convinced that this meeting has contributed to ensuring a solid defense for Romania and a visible role for this country in guaranteeing the security of our region and of the Euro-Atlantic area. In our opinion this has been a successful meeting.”

On the sidelines of the summit in Brussels, Klaus Iohannis had a meeting with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda, with whom he discussed about staging a new regional meeting in Bucharest, in preparation for the NATO summit of 2018. The two presidents have also tackled the Romanian-Polish strategic partnership and joint action within NATO, the two states being regarded by military experts as the most important Alliance members on its eastern flank.

(Translated by Elena Enache)