NATO support - additional guarantee that Moldova and Ukraine's European path can be fulfilled - NATO Deputy Secretary General says

Chisinau, July 12 /MOLDPRES/- NATO support for the Republic of Moldova is a "guarantee" on the European integration. NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoană made the statement in Washington. In an interview with the Romanian press, the NATO official emphasized that NATO will continue to support Ukraine and the summit's decisions send a message to Moscow "NATO is strong and determined to defend its territory, population, economy, infrastructure".

Referring to the signal that the Alliance has sent to Moscow, the NATO deputy secretary general said that it also represents "a breath of fresh air" for Ukraine, as well as "an additional guarantee" that the European path of Moldova and Ukraine can be carried out.

"That is why today in Washington, our leaders and all of us as leaders of the Alliance, showed that Ukraine will have our support. It is a signal including to Moscow that we want to make very clear. Let no one think that we are going to tire in our support for Ukraine, even if there are sometimes delicate discussions. In Romania too there are discussions. Why should we help them? We have historical problems that are still unresolved. We are not deaf to these issues, but in spite of these issues, and although in democracies things are more complicated than in authoritarian regimes, our strategic interest is that Ukraine remains standing as an independent state, as a sovereign state, and that as soon as possible it joins the Euro-Atlantic family," he said.

Asked whether NATO is ready to support a future security architecture for the Republic of Moldova, Mircea Geoană replied that NATO has never knocked on anyone's door to extend an invitation. 

The North Atlantic Alliance's support for the Republic of Moldova is indirectly helping the country's European integration, Geoană said, referring to the fact that Moldova is a joint partner of NATO and the European Union. 

At the end of a five-year term as NATO's deputy secretary general, Mircea Geoană says he feels a sense of destiny fulfilled. "All my life I have worked to integrate Romania into NATO. We have concluded the accession negotiations with the European Union and now I am finishing five years, I would say, of success. The way in which the leaders, the allies, applauded me yesterday and thanked me at the end of the session for my work is a feeling of great satisfaction. For younger people, I will say as the Americans say: 'the sky is the limit'. I am just a breaker of a ceiling of access to very high positions. The ceiling that I broke: the highest position ever held by a Romanian man or woman. I am absolutely convinced and I will do everything in my power to ensure that this is just the beginning", said Geoană.

On July 9-11, the NATO Summit was held in Washington to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Alliance. The final declaration of the NATO summit states that the Black Sea region is of strategic importance to the Alliance and it will continue to monitor developments in the region, focusing on security threats.

The allies called on Russia "to withdraw all forces from the Republic of Moldova and Georgia stationed there without their consent". Support for the Republic of Moldova is mentioned in a paragraph on the importance of NATO partnerships in ensuring "a 360-degree security approach". In this context, the allies say, "we welcome Modova's efforts to continue its democratic reforms and progress, such as the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with European integration, and are committed to supporting their security and defense capabilities and developing their capacity to counter hybrid threats".

The Republic of Moldova was represented at the NATO Summit in Washington by a delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Mihai Popșoi.