Elena Lasconi, put in difficulty by national security. What does it say about the main themes in the field of defense?

Elena Lasconi was put in difficulty by national security issues during an interview, the presidential candidate being evasive on issues such as the budget and defense laws or foreign partnerships.

Elena Lasconi did not know what budget our country has for defense. Photo: Inquam Photos

In an interview with Europa Libera, Elena Lasconi was asked how Romania should solve the problem of Russian drones entering the country’s airspace.

“Normally, we should have a very well-developed legislation that would allow us to strike and shoot down these drones the second they arrived on our territory. (..) Courageous politicians who make decisions quickly are needed“, answered Elena Lasconi.

Regarding the preparation of the population for an exceptional state, provided for in the draft defense laws, the USR candidate for the presidency of Romania stated that there is a need for an army of professionals and a better state of health of the population: “I mean, let’s panic the people and say ? We should do some things that haven’t been done before, sports bases, swimming pools. If we campaigned and put more sports in our education system, things would change”.

Faced with a hypothetical situation – a Russian drone would injure people or cause damage on the first day of her mandate in Cotroceni – Elena Lasconi was asked which article of the Constitution would allow her to adopt a measure for civil defense.

I don’t know all the articles of the Constitution by heart, but I know that, the moment a drone appears from wherever it comes on Romania’s territory, it is the famous article 5, which no one has violated so far, from the NATO treaty, in which they say that if one country is attacked the others respond”, answered Lasconi.

The USR presidential candidate claims that the Defense budget should remain at 2.5% of GDP. “I don’t see why we should grow now“, said Lasconi, who believes that more should be invested “in the naval area”.

Also regarding the defense of Romania, a former journalist stated that “it would be great if we had more foreign bands in Romania“, reasoning that “it is proven that in the countries where there were foreign NATO troops ready for combat, they were never attacked“.

Regarding the war in Ukraine, Elena Lasconi believes that “peace will end when the Ukrainian people want it.”

The USR presidential candidate says that he consults on defense and foreign issues with several colleagues from the USR, nominating Nicu Fǎlcoi (deputy, member of the Defense Commission), Iulian Bulai (deputy, member of the Foreign Policy Commission) and Cristian Ghinea (former Minister of European Funds).

Opinion polls carried out so far place Elena Lasconi among the candidates with a chance in the presidential elections.