Ciuca: Attempts by states to reassert themselves as zonal leaders indicate trend to reconfigure power balance

 

"The major impact of new international crisis-generating factors, the geopolitical instability and the potentially conflicting volatility, but also attempts by states to reassert themselves as zonal leaders indicate a trend of reconfiguring the power balance and a tendency to amplify conventional, asymmetric and hybrid actions, and the recent events on the border of Ukraine are only elements to certify this assessment," Nicolae Ciuca told the Romanian Academy-held event for launching Romania's Security Barometer study.

 

He added that the frozen conflicts in the area add to all this.

 

"If we add to all this another powerful tool for influencing regional security, I am referring to the frozen conflicts in the area, whose freezing and thawing temperature is regulated by the situation of opportunity, as well as the fact that the Black Sea region is the area where the credibility of the Alliance's deterrence and defence position is tested almost daily, I think we can have a complete picture of the security situation in the Black Sea area," said the defence minister.

 

Minister Ciuca stated that we are currently witnessing a greater awareness of the fact that there is a need for coherence and cohesion in the whole society.

 

"Undoubtedly, the Black Sea region is of strategic importance not only for Romania's security, but also for the European and Euro-Atlantic security. We are witnessing, today, a greater awareness of the need for coherence and cohesion in our entire society. (...) We will continue to focus on increasing the allied presence and for the full operational maturation of the deterrence and collective defence projects developed in the Black Sea region within the forward presence," the minister said.

 

Nicolae Ciuca also stated that the efforts are focused on identifying and applying appropriate measures to counter the new type of threats, but also the traditional ones.

 

The LARICS Sociological Research Center launched, on Wednesday, in the context of the military deployment of the Russian army on the border with Ukraine, Romania's Security Barometer, an exhaustive sociological study that analyzes Romanians' perceptions of national security in the current regional context but also the degree of familiarity with the regional public agenda.