“We see coordinated disinformation campaigns and we see the consequences,” the president, Nicusor Dan, said.
President Dan on Wednesday presented the National Strategy for the Defense of the Country, a document where he said Romania was the target of cyber attacks, coordinated disinformation campaigns. “We see the consequence of these things, pressures on democracy and the rule of law, “ he said adding that “an important risk is the relatively low level of civic activism.”
“One chapter is called: Threats, risks, vulnerabilities, opportunities. On the threat side, obviously, the war next to us, with all the consequences that arise from this and the hybrid war that Russia is obviously waging against Romania and against many European countries; we see cyberattacks, we see coordinated disinformation campaigns and we see the consequence of these things, pressures on democracy and the rule of law,” he told lawmakers.
At the international level Romania faces risks of instability both to the east_ Moldova, Ukraine, to the south, the Western Balkans, the South Caucasus area which and also influences of insecurity in the Middle East area, which create premises for exporting these risks to Europe.
“As far as internal risks and vulnerabilities are concerned, I would insist on the reduced capacity of the public administration on multiple levels and I will develop when I talk about solutions, on corruption, also large-scale tax evasion, the quality of education, critical thinking and school dropout in this sphere, the demographic decline and the fragmentation of state policies in the area of technology.
“We also have a relatively low level in the area of research, development, innovation, an area that is becoming more and more important in the global competition,” the president said.
As far as society is concerned, “an important risk is the relatively small amount of activity, civic activism, which is an important thing,” he added.
“There is a gap between the evolution of society as a whole, the evolution of the economy, of the citizen’s expectations and the way in which the public administration responds to these expectations,” he said.
“The National Defense Strategy is the result of a joint effort and I want to thank the institutions, organizations, citizens who, both in the first stage and in the second phase of public debate, sent suggestions, many of them were taken over in this document. First of all, this strategy speaks of national security from the perspective of the citizen, that is, we defend an abstraction of the Romanian state, speaking of the Romanian citizen, which raises some questions, the relationship of the citizen with the Romanian state, the citizen’s trust in the Romanian state, which can translate at some point into his willingness to defend this complex institution and the fact that we must recognize that there is a gap between the overall evolution of the Romanian state. the evolution of the economy, the evolution of the expectations of the Romanian citizen and the way in which the public administration responds to these expectations,” the president said in his speech.
He also said that the Document has four important chapters.
“The first is the geopolitical context, because compared to previous strategies, there have been important changes in the context. First of all, the rules-based international order is being discussed. We have a three-and-a-half-year war in our neighborhood, we have conflicts in several places around the globe and we see that, unfortunately, the capacity of international bodies to resolve these types of conflicts diplomatically is diminished.
We are seeing an accelerated technological evolution and this also means the emergence of artificial intelligence, and this means that the more time someone spends adapting to these accelerated changes, the more their gap with others will increase. We see an increasing importance of social networks and through them and sophisticated technological tools we see intense manipulation and disinformation campaigns,” the president said.
“In parallel with the questioning of the rules-based international system, we see a questioning of the already established rules of international trade that also require an adequate response.
“We are seeing in several places, including in our proximity, attacks on critical infrastructure and we have a proliferation of transnational threats, trafficking networks, drugs, organized crime, terrorism and we are also seeing more and more pronounced effects of climate change,” he said.
Nicuşor Dan: We have a strategic partnership with the United States and we are part of NATO and the European Union, with all the mechanisms that allow development / Romania can become a point of connectivity between Europe and Asia
He said there were important opportunities for Romania’s defense industry, given by the fact that we will continue to have, in the coming years, unfortunately, a global increase in military production and Romania has some competitive advantages, has tradition, has locations.
“One is obvious, the fact that we have a strategic partnership with the United States and we are part of NATO and the European Union, with all the mechanisms that allow development. I would like to mention the SAFE (Security Action for Europe) program and I would like to congratulate the government and the institutions involved for the effort they have made over the past two months and for the application they have submitted to the SAFE program.
“If we are talking about NATO, I want to mention this program for the Eastern Flank, the Eastern Sentinel. There are important opportunities for the national defense industry, given by the fact that we will continue to have, in the coming years, unfortunately, a global increase in military production and Romania has some competitive advantages, has tradition, has locations, still has qualified people and has related industries in which technological solutions are close, IT and the automotive industry”, the head of state mentioned. According to the president, the geographical position is an opportunity.
“Romania can become a point of connectivity between Europe and Asia. The Port of Constanta is an opportunity. It is very good that in 2-3 years it will be connected by motorway and rail with Western Europe. The Danube is also an opportunity, including in the perspective of Ukraine’s future reconstruction process. If we talk about the Black Sea, I think we need to sublimate the European Union’s strategy on the Black Sea, which was adopted a year ago, at Romania’s initiative,” the head of state explained.
He also referred to the Romanian diaspora.
“There are millions of people who have proven to be competitive, in a much more competitive market than ours and any kind of collaboration with these people, through business development, by attracting them back home, can be a huge plus for Romania,” the head of state said.
He said Romania would continue to support the stability and development of the Republic of Moldova, an important foreign policy objective.
“We will continue to support Ukraine. We will also support security in the Western Balkans and we will support the integration of our neighbours into the European Union. It is a condition of our future stability. The Black Sea is an important point in our foreign policy, because, as I said, it is on the one hand a vulnerability, on the other hand it can be a great opportunity,” he said
