/Correspondence Bucharest/ Jens Stoltenberg: "If we let Putin win, we will all pay an even higher price"
More aid for Ukraine and the review of the strategy vis-à-vis China - are the milestones of the meeting of the foreign ministers of the Northern Alliance Atlantis, which will take place in Bucharest on November 29 and 30. It is the most important NATO meeting since the Madrid summit, and the Republic of Moldova will participate, for the first time, formally, in such an event.
Foreign Ministers from NATO member states are meeting in Bucharest in the context where Ukraine still needs support, as insisted by Jens Stoltenberg, the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Alliance. He said late last week that while Europe is feeling the consequences of war, Ukraine must also shed blood.
“I expect Foreign Ministers to step up non-lethal support through our comprehensive assistance package. President Putin is failing in Ukraine and responding with even more brutality, with waves of deliberate missile attacks on cities and civilian infrastructure, starving Ukrainians of warmth, light and food," Jens Stoltenberg said.
At the same time, the NATO Secretary General also said that "if we let Putin win, we will all pay an even higher price in the years to come."
From Romania's perspective, the meeting of foreign ministers is "an expression of allied solidarity with the states of the Eastern Flank"
"It is the first event that takes place in a state on the Eastern Flank of the North Atlantic Alliance after the start of Russia's war against Ukraine. Therefore, a very relevant meeting that confirms the role and profile of Romania in the North Atlantic Alliance and at the same time indicates the strategic importance of the Black Sea for Euro-Atlantic security, therefore also for Romania", said the Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu.
In an interview given to Agerpres.ro, the head of diplomacy from Bucharest also spoke about the participation of the Republic of Moldova, for the first time, within such a format.
"We see how the circumstances in which the Government of the Republic of Moldova is called upon to implement the program of reforms and European integration are often extreme. We have already repeatedly witnessed extensive interruptions in electricity supplies following attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure. Also, there have been flagrant violations of airspace with Russian cruise missiles which are, in fact, violations of the neutrality of the Republic of Moldova. The discussions at the ministerial meeting will primarily aim at increasing the resilience of the NATO partner states in our immediate vicinity", said Bogdan Aurescu for the public news agency.
In Romania, the meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers will also be attended by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who will have bilateral meetings with President Klaus Iohannis and Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă.
How will the challenge of China be addressed? - it is another file to which the NATO ministry will have to outline at least an answer. Asked about the outlook for the North Atlantic Alliance, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg explained that Beijing is "stepping up its military modernization, increasing its presence from the Baltic Sea to the Western Balkans, trying to gain control of critical infrastructure."
China is not an adversary, Stoltenberg said: "In Bucharest, the Foreign Ministers are expected to adopt a clear position towards China, following the milestones decided in the past at the Madrid summit. The war in Ukraine demonstrated our dangerous dependence on Russian gas. So we have to evaluate our dependencies against other authoritarian regimes, not least against China," the official said.
The NATO ministerial in Bucharest also has a symbolic relevance for Romania, because it takes place exactly 20 years after the moment when the North Atlantic Alliance invited Romania to join it. In parallel with this event, the Munich Leaders' Meeting will also take place in Bucharest, also prefaced by Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu.
