Romania's president: Barak Obama invited Romania to take part in missile shield

Romanian president Traian Basescu announced on Thursday, February 4 2010, during the Country’s National Defence Council meeting, that Romania’s participation in the missile shield has been approved, following American President Barak Obama’s invitation. „The new shield is not aimed against Russia; I repeat, Romania does not have on its territory a shield aimed against Russia, but against other threats”, the Romanian chief of state underlined.

„The old shield set-up does not cover Romania’s territory, only to a small extent in the Western part. The new set-up covers Romania entirely… Romania was not equipped against possible missile attacks”, Basescu added.

The president added that the American chief of state’s message was brought to Bucharest by Ellen Taucher, state under-secretary for ammunition control which leads a team of American experts in Romania.

„The gradual-adaptive development of the missile shield defence shield in Europe, with the set-up of some components in Romania as well, is perfectly in line with the decisions adopted at the NATO summit from Bucharest and from Kehl, when the principles regarding the indivisibility of the security and the allied solidarity have been laid out” Traian Basescu indicated.

According to Traian Basescu, certain components of the missile shield will be placed in Romania: „There will be ground interceptors; the actions’ operations in Romania will begin in 2015…”

The President said that in the period to come there will be bi-lateral negotiations to seal necessary agreements, which will then be rectified by Romania’s Parliament.

Traian Basescu claims that the decision is important in strengthening the US partnership, but the most important aspect is Romania’s raising the level of its security. He stressed the fact that the CSAT decision respects the country’s constitution and laws.

Last year, the Romanian state secretary for strategic affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Bogdan Aurescu told HotNews.ro that the new version of the American missile shield would cover Romania and this version would be more efficient. Aurescu said that the defence system proposed by the Obama administrations has lower costs compared to the previous one, proposed during George W. Bush administration.