WHAT IS ROMANIA’S SECURITY PERSPECTIVE IN THE BLACK SEA REGION?

Abstract

Russia’s recent aggressions against Ukraine have resurfaced the importance of NATO’s Eastern Flank. Modern capabilities with allied presence are considered essential in order to assure deterrence for not just Eastern Europe but for the entire continent. However the actual areas that pose a risk and threat on the Eastern Flank have longed been deemed differently. For the Northern part of the Flank, around the Baltic Sea, due to Poland’s geopolitical agenda and the Baltic States geographical position NATO has always considered strengthening this area a priority. Romania is part of the Eastern Flank but is situated in an area that has not always been considered a major strategic challenge, that of the Southern part of the Eastern Flank, around the Black Sea. The aim of this paper is to present Romania’s view to the importance of the Black Sea, from a political, military and economic point of view, to analyze the country’s push during NATO summits for strengthening this area and to understand what the future is for this region, after introducing the Black Sea area in the NATO Strategic Concept, following the NATO summit from Madrid.

Keywords

• strategic concept
• energy security
• defense capabilities
• eastern flank