Traian Băsescu, former president of Romania, stated that the head of state, Klaus Iohannis, must have behind him the entire MFA team and that of the Executive, for a candidacy to NATO, as reactions of the heads of state and by the Government of the North Atlantic Alliance.
Traian Băsescu evaluated Klaus Iohannis PHOTO Archive
Asked how he sees Klaus Iohannis' announcement and whether he thinks he made it without consulting NATO partners, Traian Băsescu stated: “Here is the major risk I see in this statement. If it was an arrangement already made, to give up Rutte, the ones who should have announced it would have been the Americans. Within NATO, the designation is a political act that the United States, but also the other two nuclear powers, France and Great Britain, claim.” said Băsescu to DIGI24.
The former president did not refrain from an irony: “Personally, I would say, maybe a little ironically, that I never believed that the post of NATO Secretary General was put up for competition, but it turns out that it was put up and Mr. Iohannis signed up for the competition. The end remains to be seen“
Asked about the evaluation of the chances, Băsescu moved the discussion to Rutte, the main counter-candidate: “I would need to know a lot from the allies to make an assessment of the chances. I would say that if the candidacy of Iohannis calls into question Rutte's presence at the head of the NATO General Secretariat, that is good. Rutte is a man who despises RO and we should not accept his presence in any NATO or EU position. He did a lot of damage to Romania”.
Support at all levels
Traian Băsescu emphasized that sustained work is needed so that the head of state can lead a campaign at the level of the Allies. “Not only can we suspect, it is mandatory (no – it must be supported by the Government and the Coalition parties). If Iohannis made the announcement without having a negotiation, foreign policy strategy related to his appointment, he made a mistake. You can only get the position with major negotiations, where the head of the line is the MFA, with all the ambassadors, with all directions in the MFA. It's a complicated thing to get such functions”, Băsescu also said.
Moreover, the former president pointed out that external reactions must also come. “In my opinion, such a message should have followed the first announcement, which was more of a signal. Even then there had to be pubic signals, because the announcement was public. Mandatory there must be reactions from the heads of state and government. not to remain silent, especially if many are understood for Rutte“.
