Romania’s top defense body will meet to discuss an upcoming meeting of NATO leaders in London and the appointment of the new Chief of Staff of the Army, the president’s office said.
The Supreme Defense Council will meet Wednesday in a meeting chaired by President Klaus Iohannis, who won a second term in office in Sunday elections.
Security, defense and intelligence officials will outline Romania’s main objectives for the Dec. 3-4 NATO meeting in London. Romania sees its membership of the 29-member alliance as a guarantor of security in the region.
Officials will also discuss overseas missions for Romania’s armed forced next year and budget rectifications for national security for 2019.
Romania’s Defense Minister Nicolae Ciuc said recently he expected Romania to allocate 2% of gross domestic budget for defense this year.
Ciuc served as Chief of Staff of the Army for more than four years until he become defense minister this month in a new Liberal government that took office after the Social Democrats were deposed in a vote of no-confidence.
U.S. President Donald Trump also is expected to try to convince U.S. allies at the summit that they should increase their defense spending to 2% of national output.
Another
issue that will be raised at the summit is the proposal of a European army. French
President Emmanuel Macron told The Economist magazine that Europe can no longer
rely on the United States to defend its NATO allies.
“What we are currently experiencing is the brain death of NATO,” he told The
Economist, adding that Europe “no longer be in control of our destiny” unless
it starts thinking of itself strategically as a geopolitical power.
