Universitatea din Bucuresti

Facultatea de Stiinte Politice

SPE 2
International Organisations
Catalina Alexandra Mamota

Mid-term paper
Romania in NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation is an intergovernmental military alliance

based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4th April 1949 and it is built upon
a system of collective defense, where member states agree to mutual defense, as a
response to an attack by any outside party. Moreover, the combined military spending of
all NATO members constitutes over 70% of the worlds defense spending.1
Article 5 of the North Atlantic treaty, requiring member states to come to the aid
of any member state is threatened by an armed attack, was invoked for the first and only
time after the 11th September 2001 attacks. Afterwards, the troops were sent to
Afghanistan. The organisation has also operated a range of additional roles, including
sending trainers to Iraq, assisting in counter-piracy operations and in 2011, it had also
enforced a no-fly zone over Libya. In addition to this, the less potent Article 4, which
merely invokes consultation among NATO members has been invoked three times and
only by Turkey: once in 2003 over the Iraq War and twice in 2012 over the Syrian civil
war after the drowning of an unarmed Turkish F4 reconnaissance jet and after a mortar
was fired at Turkey from Syria.2

The SIPRI Military Expenditure Database, www.milexdata.sipri.org , retrieved on 22nd August 2010.
Adrian CROFT, NATO demands halt to Syria aggression against Turkey, Reuters, retrieved 3rd Octiber
2012.
2

NATO has 28 members, mainly in Europe and North America, while 12 of those
28 are original members who joined in 1949, while the other 16 joined in one of seven
enlargement rounds. Few members spend more than two percent of their gross domestic
product on defense,3 with the United States accounting for three fourths of NATO
defense spending.
New membership in the alliance has been largely from Eastern Europe and the
Balkans, including former members of the Warsaw Pact.
Romania was invited to join the North Atlantic Alliance at the NATO Summit in
Prague in 2002 and on 29th March 2004, Romania officially joined it by submitting the
instruments of ratification to the US Department of State which was agreed to be the
depositary state of the North Atlantic Treaty.
Moreover, according to a law passed in 2005, the NATO Day in Romania is
celebrated on the first Sunday of April and in 2009, Romania celebrated five years since
joining NATO.
Between 2 and 4 April 2008, Romania hosted the NATO Summit in Bucharest
which was the major foreign policy event organised by Romania and the largest summit
in NATOs history.
Romania was also a partner to the allied forces during the Gulf War, particularly
during its service as president of the UN Security Council. Meanwhile, Romania has been
active in peacekeeping operations in Angola, Bosnia, Albania and Afghanistan and has
sent 860 troops in Iraq after the invasion led by the United States.
Despite divisions within the Parliament and among the people, Romania
supported NATO in the Kosovo campaign as well as granted approval for NATO to fly
over the Romanian airspace, making it the first country to enroll in NATOs Partnership
for Peace program.
There are many NATO operations and missions in which Romania was involved,
but the most important ones are ISAF, NTM-I, KFOR operation and OAE.

International Security Assistance Force (ISAF):

3

Adrian CROFT, Some EU states may no longer afford air forces-general, Reuters, retrieved 31st March
2013.

ISAF is the major operational priority for NATO and also the largest Allied
operation in NATO history. It was launched in 2001 by the UN Security Council
Resolution 1386, after the overthrow of the Taliban regime. Originally it provided
security to the capital Kabul and its neighbourhood, but in 2003, NATO began to provide
help to the Afghan government to extend its authority in the whole country and establish
a secure environment to economic reconstruction and the rule of law.
Romania is one of the major contributors to ISAF and the countrys participation
was established by the Decision no. 38 of 21 st December of the Romanian Parliament,
which extends the Government the authority to determine the forces, resources, funding
and conditions to ensure such participation.4

NATO Training Mission Iraq (NTM-I):

The decision to establish the NTM-I was taken by the Heads of State and
Government at the NATO Summit in Istanbul in 2004, in response to the request sent by
the Iraqi Interim Government. The missions goal is to assist the Iraqi authorities in
triaging their security forces, by providing actual training, equipment and technical
assistance.
In this mission, Romania has supported NATO Training Mission to Iraqi security
forces from the beginning, on 14th August 2004.5

KFOR operation:

4
5

www.mae.ro/en/node/2132
www.mae.ro/en/node/2132

NATO has been involved in Kosovo since 1999, following the UN SC Resolution
1244, with the mission to ensure a safe and stable security environment. After the
declaration of independence of Kosovo on 17th February 2008, NATO reaffirmed that
military force KFOR will remain in Kosovo under UN SC Resolution 1244, unless the
UN SC decides otherwise.6 KFOR works closely with the people of Kosovo, the UN,
EU and other international organisations and the alliance continues its efforts to ensure
sustainable development and a democratic, multiethnic Kosovo.
Since its development, Romania maintains commitment to KFOR and Romanian
troops continue to carry out their tasks according to the mandate in order to ensure safety
of civilians.

Operation Active Endeavour (OAE):

The operation was launched in 2001 and was one of the eight measures taken by
NATO at that time to support the US after the terrorist attacks of September 11, following
the invocation of Article 5 of the Washington Treaty for the first time in NATO history. 7
Since 2001, Allied ships have been patrolling the Mediterranean in order to monitor and
identify any suspicious vessels and since 2003, the operation expanded to escorting
commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Gibraltar.
Romania has taken part in the operation since 2005.
In addition to all this, at the end of October 2013m Romania began construction a
facility that will host missile interceptors as part of a planned NATO missile shield, a
project that has irked Russia. The event was attended by US Under Secretary of Defense
for Policy James N. Miller, as well as Romanian President Traian Basescu and James

6
7

www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/topics_48818.htm , NATOs role in Kosovo

www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/topics_7932.htm

Syrin, director of the US Missile Defense Agency. 8 It is said that the facility in Deveselu
will be an important component in building up NATOs overall ballistic missile defence
system and that by the end of 2015, the base will be operational and integrated into the
overall NATO system.
The project is said to be aimed at countering a potential threat from Iran and
Washington will invest 97 million euros in the Deveselu base, which was built 60 years
ago with the Soviet Unions help. However, the airbase will remain under Romanian
command, but it will host an average of 200 US troops, up to a maximum of 500.
Moreover, both Romania and Poland have agreed to host 24 US land-based SM3
missiles interceptors each in the coming years and the Romanian president, Traian
Basescu announced that the shield was aimed at protecting European and American
citizens.
In conclusion, to show Romanias perspective when it comes to NATO, one needs
to present the countrys goals as a NATO member.
The most important goals are the following:
Romania wishes NATO to be a robust and relevant alliance based on a solid
transatlantic partnership capable to respond effectively to new security threats, as only
this kind of alliance can deal with the new security risks that the transatlantic community
is facing.
Romania also supports NATOs role in providing stability, as a promoter of
reforms and regional cooperation in the immediate vicinity of Romania. The countrys
officials believe that the Euro-Atlantic frontier which is based on democracy, freedom
and security should not stop at its eastern border, as Europe cant be complete without
integrating the Western Balkans in the European and Euro-Atlantic structures. It is said
that Romania can help secure long-term stability in this region and that it can support
reforms taken by the countries in the region.
At the Eastern border of the Alliance, Romania has been and will continue to be
a firm and active advocate of strengthening the partnership with Moldova and Romania
will keep on supporting Georgias democratic development, its European vocation and its
aspirations for integration into Euro-Atlantic structures.9
8
9

www.spacedaily.com/m/reports/Romania_begins_work_on_NATO_missile_shield_base_999.html
www.mae.ro/en/node/2066?page=2 , Romania NATO

Moreover, Romania has always supported the strengthening of dialogue and

cooperation between NATO and EU on as many areas of common interest as possible,
while respecting the specificity and autonomy of decision within each of the two
organisations. Meanwhile, NATOs relations with the United Nations is one of a big
importance and Romania is in favour of a broader cooperation between the two in order
to maintain international peace and security.
Finally, it has been decided that Romania will continue to NATOs transformation
process aimed at improving response to the new types of threats, such as terrorism and
proliferation of mass destruction weapons.