“Romania agreed with the U.S. on the European Phased Adaptive Approach in 2011. First there were discussions, then implementation. Now we have this anti-missile system,” PM Dacian Ciolos told Washington Post in an interview. Commenting the fact that the Russians are protesting, Ciolos said: “This is their problem. We were very clear that this is not oriented against anyone; it is a purely defensive system. We don’t want to attack someone. We only want to discourage aggressions. It is a system of deterrence.”
Speaking about the domestic situation, Ciolos said: “I am not so popular, because the expectations are high, and there are many criticisms, saying that I do not do enough in the reform processes. We started, but we have to change some legislation. In order to do that, we need the support of political parties in the Parliament. It is possible that political parties don’t like an independent government.”
Asked why he doesn’t run for PM, Dacian Ciolos said he avoids that in order to have the confidence of political parties. “I prefer to keep my word. I promised at the beginning to be an independent prime minister and that I would not run. I was not a member of a political party in the past.”
Tackling the issue of NATO in Romania, the Premier said: “We want more military exercises, more cooperation with all NATO allies. We will propose at the next NATO summit the reinforcement not only the north-eastern flank in Europe but also the south-eastern flank. Now the focus is on the Baltic States, which have a direct border with Russia. We want rotational troops, training together. Our proposal is to integrate Romania into this rotation of NATO troops,” Ciolos concluded.