Black Sea Region in the Security Policy of Romania: Evaluation of Approaches

Abstract

The paper is dedicated to the role of the Black Sea region in the security policy of Romania. Approaches, patterns and results of this area of the foreign policy of Romania are studied since the period after the collapse of the USSR in 1991. The concepts and strategies of the national security and the strategies of national defense of Romania, adopted since 1994 are analysed. The key patterns and results of the security policy pursued by Romania in the Black Sea region are defined. The author concludes that this direction of Romania's policy is consistently based on the strategic partnership with the United States and solidarity with the approaches of the NATO and EU in the Black Sea region. The policy leads to the imbalance in the relations with the littoral states for which euro-atlanticism has not become an ideological basis for their foreign policy (Russia and Turkey). Amidst the absence of the search for a new model of relations with the littoral states, Romania's policy leads to the growth of the potential for confliction in the Black Sea region.