Senate head Melescanu emphasizes importance of increasing defence and deterrence capacity in Black Sea region

The Senate's chairman, Teodor Melescanu, pleaded, while attending on Friday the 4th edition of the Bucharest Security Conference, for increasing the defence and deterrence capacity in the Black Sea region. "The defence and deterrence policy, the capacity to adapt to the changes in the world represents a fantastic thing. From this point of view, when we speak of our relationship with the partner countries, we benefit from their contribution and, at the same time, certainly, these partners need our support and our contribution to increase their own capacities. From this point of view, one of the important security issues is represented by the security in the Black Sea region. I am not saying that this is the most important subject, but I want to say that in what regards the eastern border of NATO and the EU, from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, we have a clear corridor and a barrier against any hostile actions. From this perspective, I must admit the fact that this year was an excellent one for Romania, a riparian state to the Black Sea. Very important decisions were adopted in what regards the presence at the Black Sea and, furthermore, in what regards the presence in the Baltic Sea area," he showed, during the Bucharest Security Conference organized by the National School of Political and Administrative Studies (SNSPA). In this sense, Melescanu also spoke about the importance of increasing the defence and deterrence capacity in the Black Sea region and said that, due to the existence of NATO, classical type aggressions are avoided at present, while the world is facing "new challenges and threats", such as the hybrid wars. "When we speak of hybrid war we must take into consideration several elements. The first - and maybe the most important - is the consolidation of resilience of all countries from this angle. Surely, NATO is the larger organization, which ensures our security, but everyone must contribute and I am proud, as chairman of the Senate, to say that Romania made a very wise decision, by consensus of all political parties, to allot a percentage of the state budget to the military domain. We have as a target to continue this policy for a period of at least ten years. A second important thing: we must focus on cyberdefence. The third element, which is also important, relates to the strategic communication. We must understand that wars now start in the hearts and minds of people, and that is why strategic communication is very important," Melescanu mentioned.AGERPRES(RO - author: Irinela Visan, editor: Georgiana Tanasescu; EN - author: Razvan-Adrian Pandea, editor: Maria Voican)