The Core: Military Cooperation
Current status:
Military cooperation is a vital part of the Strategic Partnership. It started even before 1997 and has been synced with Romania’s application for NATO membership. After the anticommunist revolution, the new leaders in Bucharest identified NATO as the only organization able to ensure the stability and security of the new European democracies. While the political dialogue with NATO leaders was ongoing, in 1993, the Mil-to-Mil (military-to-military) cooperation program was initiated to deal with defense cooperation between Romania and the United States. It was the first such cooperation Romania ever had with a NATO member state. A year later, Romania became the first state from Central and Eastern Europe to join NATO’s Partnership for Peace, which opened the door for military cooperation in some missions of the Alliance. A week after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the Romanian Parliament adopted a decision that authorized the country’s participation in the fight against terrorism as a NATO ally. Therefore, Romanian forces joined the US-led operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. A year after Romania’s accession to NATO, the Agreement Regarding the Activities of United States Forces on the Territory of Romania was signed – even before the Strategic Partnership gained the basis of a bilateral political document. The agreement set the framework for a complex military cooperation. The US forces were authorized to access and use facilities such as the Kogalniceanu Air Base and Cincu Training Rage and to conduct maneuvers in certain perimeters. The document acknowledges that “the presence of United States forces contributes to strengthening the security and stability of Romania and the region”.
The security landscape of the region sharply changed in 2014, when Russia annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea – an action deemed as a violation of international law. This has alerted countries in Central and Eastern Europe and the Baltic states to a potential Russian aggression as a major regional security risk. They asked for reassurance from NATO and the US against this threat. In response, at the 2016 NATO summit in Warsaw, member states agreed on a strengthened military presence in the eastern and south-eastern areas of the Alliance. NATO is already developing a forward presence in the Black Sea region, comprising of land, sea and air capabilities. The land forces are built around a Romanian-led multinational brigade, which has the mission to coordinate multinational training.
Romania also hosts the US ballistic missile defense system at the Deveselu Air Base, which became operational in May 2016. It is a core capability of the NATO missile defence architecture, the first of its kind, designed to detect, track, engage, and destroy ballistic missiles in flight outside the atmosphere. Despite repeated reassurances from US and Romanian officials that the shield is meant to protect European allies from rockets shot by countries such as Iran and North Korea, Russia claims that it is in fact its nuclear arsenal that is the target of the system. Moscow is ever more aggravated by the show of force in the former communist countries, very close to Russian borders, and by the increasing number of military drills in the region, including in the strategically important Black Sea, where NATO considers increasing patrols. This year, Romania and Bulgaria have hosted the largest multinational military drills in the region, with more than 25.000 troops taking part in the US Army-led Saber Guardian 17 exercise.
How it can be strengthened
Cooperation in the military field has worked beautifully at the operational level, and helped Romanian military gather new skills and abilities, and modernize their defense systems. After two decades this could be taken to the next level, where cooperation could help increase the strategic analysis and planning capabilities of Romania’s military, through transfer of both knowledge and procedures. To this end:
- US Department of Defense and its Romanian counterpart should cooperate to transfer and respectively absorb the knowledge behind the design and implementation of a multiannual planning instrument similar to the Quadrannial Defense Review;
- Romania should draft its 2030 White Chart of Defense outlining major goals and steps needed to achieve them, in order to outline its strategy and streamline its operations;
- The relation of trust created between Romanian and American soldiers in operation theaters, as well as that between graduates of military and intelligence schools should be built upon. Romania should be assisted in the creation of a structure similar to Veteran Affairs;
- Following the model of cooperation with Alabama, Romania’s collaboration with National Guards should be expanded to other American states.
The Necessary: Economic Cooperation
Current status
Trade and investment constitute the second pillar of the Romania-United States Strategic Partnership, yet at times trade and military cooperation overlap. Romania, just as other countries in the region, is investing in increasing its military capabilities, pursuing a strategy of reinforcement in the face of Russia’s potential aggressive actions. Most recently, the ministerial delegation to the US in September met American defense companies and discussed ways to enhance both defense cooperation and business.
The economic dimension of the Romania-United States Strategic Partnership has always lagged behind the political and defense dimensions. Yet the promise of a better economic cooperation worked as an incentive for Romania to create a more attractive and transparent business environment. The full economic potential of the collaboration is far from being reached. Both the current American Ambassador to Romania Hans Klemm and American managers have constantly renewed their request for more a transparent, predictable, and stable Romanian economic policy which would open the door for more investment.
How it can be strengthened
- Romanian government should create an inter-department agency dedicated to increasing American investment in the country. A good starting point would be an inventory of investment projects of American companies with a presence already established in Romania;
- Both governments should cooperate to promote investment opportunities in Romania within the US, beyond the classical actions in New York and Washington, DC;
- The Business Action Plan between Government of Romania and Department of Commerce should be reactivated;
- The Coalition for Development should become an affiliate to the US Business Roundtable. An invitation to this end has already been extended by the latter.
The Ignored: Political and Academic Cooperation
Current status
In the lead up to its NATO accession Romania has built excellent political relations with all branches of government and across the aisle in the United States, which helped ease the way to membership but also promote a new image of a country recovering after 40 years of communism. The momentum was lost once membership was granted, and the political dimension of the partnership lost its effervescence. This affected Romania’s image with the American public and impacted the expansion of the Partnership to areas other than military. In the same vein, Romania has not yet taken full benefit of the vibrant US academic life, despite the ever growing number of Romanian graduates of American universities.
How it can be strengthened
- Romania’s temporary membership to the Security Council (2019-2020) should be the basis for consultations on global themes, both in Washington and in New York;
- Romania should get involved in regional and global projects supported by the US (Community of Democracies, Open Government Partnership);
- The two countries should cooperate to build and help implement anti-corruption programs in the region and beyond, at both government and non-government levels;
- A Trust Fund with the contribution of Romania and other allied states should be created on cyber-defense of civilian infrastructures and countering of Russian propaganda;
- US and Romania should seek to cooperate closer in the Middle East, in the context of the fight against ISIS and Iran’s ambiguity. Cooperation should aim to the creation of a Marshall Plan for the Middle East;
- Given Romania’s close ties to Israel, a trilateral dialog US-Romania-Israel could prove helpful in mapping the region and searching for long term approaches;
- As Romania celebrates 100 years of its modern existence next year this could prove an excellent occasion for a more vigorous promotion of the country in the US. Various collaborations between institutions (Smithsonian Museum and Romanian National Art Museum, as an example) would only enhance this effort;
- Second track consultations and dialogs should be sought and encouraged between Romanian and US think tanks and academia, on all of the issues above and on others where joint expertise would be beneficial;
- Similarly, joint research projects between Romania and US universities should be encouraged, both politically and financially. Romanian graduates of American universities could be a great resource in igniting such cooperation. Ideally, similar cooperation could be built at high-school level;
- American Universities should be encouraged and assisted in conducting courses, and better yet degree programs, in Romania.
Perspectives on the future
The Strategic Partnership between Romania and the US is, together with that between the US and Poland, a pillar for the US strategy in Europe. As the containment line that the US is currently backing, taking a possible shape in the Intermarium concept, forms from the Baltic to the Black Sea and potentially spreading south to the Balkans, Romania becomes a central pillar on the Eastern front, together with Poland and Croatia. The US and Romania share the same strategic objective of maintaining stability in both the Black Sea area and in the Balkans. As the containment line evolves, Romania may become key to the United States not only in containing Russian influence, but also in managing relations with Turkey, given Turkish influence in the wider region and the good relation between the two countries. This poses greater responsibility to the strategic partnership and ultimately to Romania. At this new stage of the partnership not only stability is required from the country, but also a strong statehood. While cooperation on defense will continue, Romania will need to build itself up to support a multi-level dialog and joint action in different spheres and, possibly, various regions.
20 years into the Partnership, Romania has two choices: act by inertia, focusing almost exclusively on the military relation and rip off only the limited benefits of its geopolitical strategic importance, or build on this to expand the partnership to other domains, and extend the benefits to its economy, governance and society. Encouraging the latter, the US will have a partner that is not only a faithful and brave soldier, but also a good political ally, a resource in sharing lessons learned the hard way, and a hub of creativity and innovation.
First part of this study, on the background of the U.S. – Romania strategic partnership can be read here.
Authors:
Antonia Colibasanu
Ioana Matei
Mircea Geoana
Editor Alina Inayeh
Initially published by Aspen Institute Romania – Bucharest Forum 2017