Romania's foreign policy responses in its current security environment

Since Russia's military aggression against Ukraine, Romania's security situation has changed fundamentally. As Romania is the country in the European Union with the longest land and sea border with Ukraine, Romania's perception of security threats in its immediate vicinity has increased dramatically after February 2022. Despite its size and importance at the regional level, Romania's voice is not heard very often in the major European debates on foreign policy and security.

The formulation of Romania's foreign policy objectives and a nuanced analysis of the geopolitical context are left to the often very opaque bureaucracy of the state. At the same time, the objectives of Romania's foreign policy are not discussed in a public debate that is also open to civil society actors and academic experts. Part of this situation can be explained by the insufficient funding of Romanian diplomacy and the lack of ambition of the Bucharest political elite.

The lack of transparency of Romanian foreign and security policy key actors fuels doubt and uncertainty among citizens, gives room for right-wing extremists and conspiracy theorists to sow fear and discord, and ultimately prevents the official foreign policy objectives of the Romanian state from being supported by the majority of society. Furthermore, it contradicts the massively increased demand of the general public for foreign policy and security news.

Our aim was to publish a series of short analyses on Romania's foreign policy responses in its current security environment, in cooperation with the young and promising think tank Quartet Institute. In order to broaden the debate and make this field accessible to a wider public, the aim was to publish the short analyses in a newspaper with a national audience, such as the newspaper Libertatea. The authors of the analyses were asked to answer at least two of the following three questions: (1) What is the status quo? (2) What should Romania strive for? (3) How can Romania achieve its goals?

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Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung
Romania Office

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RO-011421 Bucuresti Sector 1
Romania

0040 21 211 09 82
0040 21 210 71 91

office.romania(at)fes.de

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