Meeting between the Romanian and French Defence Ministers

Defence Minister, Vasile Dîncu, had a bilateral meeting with the French Minister of the Armed Forces, Florence Parly on Sunday, March 6^th, at the 57^th Mihail Kogãlniceanu Air Base.

The two officials mainly talked about the extremely tensed security situation on the European continent, the crisis generated by the Russian Federation's invasion of Ukraine and the implementation of the allied decisions with respect to the consolidation of the allied presence on NATO's Eastern flank.

Minister of National Defence thanked his French counterpart for her second visit made to Romania this year, which demonstrates France's commitment to consolidating NATO's defence and deterrence posture on its Eastern flank and strengthening the allied security at the Black Sea.

Vasile Dîncu saluted France's announcement with respect to the positioning of Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier into the Mediterranean in order to conduct air policing and surveillance missions in our region, including above Romania, by pointing out that "this action stands for a real deterrence measure against any kind of threat".

The two officials reviewed the implementation status of the NATO decisions with regard to the activation of the Graduated Response Plans and Deployment of the NATO Response Force elements in order consolidate the collective defence posture on the Eastern flank.

The defence minister emphasized the "seriousness of the situation generated by the Russian intervention in Ukraine, which requires us to act now", by showing that the unprecedented measures decided at NATO level are "defensive and aim at increasing security on the Alliance Eastern flank".

In this context, the Romanian dignitary enumerated the measures taken at national level in order to support Ukraine but also the national authorities' decision to augment the defence budget from 2% to 2.5% of the GDP which will allow us to take certain additional decisions to consolidate the national defence capabilities.

Vasile Dîncu emphasized the importance of maintaining a high level of military cooperation between Romania and France.

"Consolidation of bilateral military relations can function as an important incentive for the increase of the cooperation level in other essential fields of activity for Romania and France, such as the economic and industrial ones but especially the defence industry as well as in other fields with a long history of collaboration between our countries", the Romanian defence minister stated.

The Press Office