The NATO Summit held in Vilnius on July 11-12 had been awaited by many people. The expectations were primarily tied to the influence that the decisions of this Summit can have on Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and probably also on the drawing closer of the end of this war that makes millions of victims already. Directly or indirectly, consciously or intuitively, Moldovan society also had particular expectations of this Summit, which were primarily related to the dangers and challenges generated by the ongoing war close to the country’s borders. The experts invited to IPN’s public debate “NATO Summit: Impact on Ukraine and Moldova” discussed the extent to which the expectations were met and the real and future impact of the decisions taken by the NATO Vilnius Summit on the war, on Ukraine, on Moldova and the region.
Igor Boțan, the permanent expert of IPN’s project, said that NATO is a military-political alliance whose goal is to safeguard the freedom and security of all its members by political and military means. “NATO’s motto is: Safety in everyday life is key to our wellbeing. NATO promotes the values of democracy and allows its members to consult about and to cooperate in problems related to defense and security, to build confidence and to ultimately prevent conflicts. NATO undertakes to respect the principle of peaceful settlement of conflicts. When the diplomatic efforts fail, NATO has the military power to conduct crisis management operations, based on the collective defense article from the NATO founding treaty – article 5 of the Washington Treaty – or under the auspices of the UN, alone or together with other states and international organizations,” stated the expert.
Igor Boțan noted that the NATO Summit is a periodical meeting of the heads of state and government of the member countries of the North Atlantic Alliance, held to agree the strategic direction of the organization and to approve the rules for electing a new secretary general. The Republic of Moldova on June 16, 2006 signed the Individual Partnership Action Plan. “The IPAP Republic of Moldova – NATO that enters the national procedure after it is signed by the Government of the Republic of Moldova consists of four main chapters: political and security issues; military and defense issues; public information, science and emergency planning, and administrative matters, protection of information and resources, which are comprised in two different parts: main policy and reform objectives of the Republic of Moldova, and areas of reform that are the subject of consultations with NATO. The Government, ministries and Parliament are responsible for the implementation of IPAP,” explained the expert.
German political scientist Anneli Ute Gabanyi, senior fellow of the Research Institute of Radio Free Europe in Munich and of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs based in Berlin, author of recent history studies and security studies on Romania and the Republic of Moldova, said that this Summit was perhaps the most important one after 1989 as, being held in a situation of war and international crisis, it set out the measures that should be taken, the regional and general policy of NATO towards the member countries. ‘This Summit is of very great importance to the countries that are direct neighbors of Ukraine. It is important that this Summit prove the cohesion of the Alliance members that, in times of economic and energy crises, needs to be shown. The Summit also welcomed Finland’s accession, which is very important, and as important was the fact that Turkey agreed to Sweden’s accession to the Alliance. In fact, the Alliance now expanded considerably and became decisive in the Baltic Sea. This wasn’t the case two years ago. The Ukraine subject was the most important one and the Moldova subject was the most important one for Moldovans,” stated the political scientist.
In another development, the expert noted that Poland, the Baltic Sea so far had been pressed by Russia’s close proximity and by the way in which Russia dominated the Baltic Sea in the past. In such conditions, Russia lost a considerable part of its importance and strategic weight in the Baltic Sea. “The Russians considered that they will destroy NATO with the attack against Ukraine, but actually substantially strengthened the northern flank of NATO,” said Anneli Ute Gabanyi
Security and strategic communication expert Elena Mârzac, the founder of the Platform for Security and Defense Initiatives who attended the Summit, said the recent NATO Summit was an unprecedented one owing to the conditions in which it was held, after over 500 days of war. “Everyone expected a diplomatic and peaceful solution for bringing the war to an end and NATO should play a role in this regard, even if it is not directly involved. By all the assistance offered through the agency of the members and partners, it plays an important role. All the discussions at the Summit centered on Ukraine. There are over 40 mentions of this country in the press release issued by the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council in the evening of July 11. But the most important discussions were held in the so-called corridors of the Summit, through the bilateral meetings or, including for Moldova, through the meeting of the ministers of foreign affairs. On the sidelines of the Summit, a public forum was held and I took part in this. In the forum, the NATO high-ranking officials and the heads of state and government discussed with experts of the NGO sector so as to clarify particular decisions they take,” stated the expert.
According to Elena Mârzac, NATO asked for the opinion of civil society before the Summit by conducting an opinion poll that measures the support for NATO’s policies in the member countries. For example, 89% of the population of Lithuania agrees with NATO’s policies. “There is full support in society for NATO’s policies in Ukraine. They discussed a lot the first ever NATO plans for defense and discouragement of the Russian Federation, ascertaining that there are two threats to Euro-Atlantic security – the Russian Federation, and terrorism, which is an asymmetric risk. The defense plans that can be on different flanks will be developed in order to give a discouraging signal to Russia and to plan the defense. Emphasis was also placed on the eastern flank, which is important for Moldova, and there was reiterated Romania’s support for the Republic of Moldova,” said the expert.
The debate entitled “NATO Summit: Impact on Ukraine and Moldova” was the 285th installment of IPN’s project “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation of Germany.
