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Mircea Geoana: The political leaders of NATO do not see a risk to the security of Romania or the allied countries
NATO Deputy Secretary General, Mircea Geoana, says that the Alliance does not see “a risk to Romania’s security”. The statement comes after the head of the Army, General Gheorghita Vlad, said that the population of Romania “should be worried” and that Romanians should be trained and prepared în case of war.
“I know there’s a pretty big conversation at home as well about what our military leaders are saying and what we political leaders are saying. Let’s be extremely clear: our military leaders are paid and their job is to prepare for the worst possible scenario. Our obligation, as political leaders, is to avoid these scenarios from happening”, said Geoana, after the meeting of national security advisors from NATO member countries.
“So we do not see a risk to the security of Romania or the allied countries. Instead, we see the need to invest more in what means military robustness, economic resilience and, in general, a society capable of facing shocks that are not necessarily military, but can come from many other directions”, he said.
General Gheorghita Vlad’s statements, made a week ago, caused controversy in Romania. He said that the law on preparing the population for defense should be amended so that Romanians are trained and prepared in case of a war.
“The Russian Federation has become a problem for world order, for democracy. In fact, it is a war of Russia with the democratic world. It is not a war with Ukraine. Yes, the population of Romania, like the entire population of the European Union, of Europe, must be worried and we must adopt the appropriate measures to be prepared”, said the general.
His message is similar to recent calls by the Swedish Minister of Civil Defense or the head of the NATO Military Committee, who warned of the need to prepare the civilian population in case of war.
Romanian PM Marcel Ciolacu reacted, saying that Romania has no risk of being engaged in a war. “Romania has never been safer from this point of view than today. The fact that we are part of NATO is a very important thing, and you can see the deployment of forces and soldiers from all over Europe and, especially, from the USA, and the Air Police are on Romania’s territory. So, let’s be calm that Romania will not enter into any war”, said the prime minister.