 held its first meeting of the year in Bucharest. President Klaus Iohannis convened the meeting, which was attended by Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă, the Ministers of Defense, Interior, Foreign Affairs, Justice, Economy, Finance, the director of the Romanian Intelligence Service, the Chief of Defense Staff, and presidential advisors.){kind=link}
On April 11, 2023, the Supreme Council for National Defense (CSAT) held its first meeting of the year in Bucharest. President Klaus Iohannis convened the meeting, which was attended by Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă, the Ministers of Defense, Interior, Foreign Affairs, Justice, Economy, Finance, the director of the Romanian Intelligence Service, the Chief of Defense Staff, and presidential advisors.
As expected, the agenda of the meeting included topics related to the security situation in the Black Sea region, in the context of the war in Ukraine. According to Agerpres, discussions were also held on foreign interventions in the democratic process in the Republic of Moldova.
In addition to these topics, the meeting addressed issues related to the development of Romanian military aviation, as well as other issues related to national security beyond the Prut River.
The CSAT is an autonomous administrative authority under the control of the Parliament. According to the Constitution, it is responsible for the organization and coordination of activities related to defense and national security.
CSAT’s members are several ministers, and the Romanian president leads the council. According to the law, meetings are held quarterly, but they can also be held more frequently if necessary.
In 2020, CSAT had six meetings. In 2021, the council met three times, to discuss security issues in the Black Sea region. The year 2022 was marked by four CSAT meetings, which discussed security issues, including in the context of the war. The April 11 meeting is the first of 2023.
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The first CSAT meeting of 2023 comes a few days before the defense and foreign ministers of Moldova, Romania, and Ukraine meet in Bucharest.
Romania will host trilateral meetings within the first Conference on Security in the Black Sea region, under the auspices of the Crimea Platform. Bogdan Aurescu announced the event about a month ago.
“We must continue to support the reform process towards the European integration of the country. We must continue our efforts to establish the EU civilian mission, focusing on the security sector in the Republic of Moldova,” the Romanian official said at the time.
Both Chisinau and Bucharest have repeatedly announced that Romania will stand by Moldova in all circumstances. In addition to humanitarian and financial support, we are offered political and diplomatic support.
Bogdan Aurescu has declared to the EU Council that Moldova needs support, along with Ukraine. Furthermore, he revealed that Bucharest is the first in the Union to work to create sanctions against persons accused of corruption who have left the Republic of Moldova. At the same time, Nicu Popescu pointed out in an interview that we have two foreign ministers, himself and Bogdan Aurescu.
Recently, there were also trilateral meetings between Presidents Maia Sandu, Klaus Iohannis, and German Chancellor Olaff Scholz. During the public statements made after the meeting, the support that must be given to Chisinau was reiterated, and the partners expressed concern about possible destabilizations.