Media Availability

by SACEUR General Joseph Ralston
during his visit to Romania, 27-28 June 2000

27 June (Foreign Ministry Building)

General Ralston: I came here for two main reasons. First, I wanted to learn very early about the situation in Romania to be able to provide the best military advice to political authorities as this is my role as SACEUR. Second, I wanted to make clear to other countries how important I consider Romania's role in Europe. I have had the chance to exchange some views with Foreign Minister Roman and I appreciated the open discussion.

28 June (Defense Ministry Building)

General Ralston: (in response to MOD statement): I've had several hours in Romania last night and this morning meeting with your senior military leadership, Minister of Defense, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Prime Minister. It was very important to me early in my tenure as SACEUR to come and listen to your political and military leaders. Obviously the timing of membership for Romania in NATO is a political issue that has to be addressed by the political authorities. It is a very serious responsibility for me to provide my best military advice to the political authorities concerning that issue.

28 June (Presidential Palace)

General Ralston: Thank you, Mr. President. I am delighted to have been in Romania, where I could meet with political and military leadership, with the President of Romania, the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister, the Defense Minister, the Chief of Defense and with members of the Romanian Parliament. It was very important to me early in my tenure as SACEUR to come to Romania and to learn first hand about the country and its military situation. It is my very serious responsibility to provide the best military advice to the political authorities. Secondly, I wanted to make clear to everybody that I consider Romania to be very important for Europe's security.

28 June (airport) Press Conference

Q: Could you tell us something about the work of Romania towards the regional security environment and about Romania's chances of being integrated into the NATO structure in 2002?

General Ralston: Let me answer first with regard to Romania's strategic importance. I think it can best be answered by saying all one has to do is take a map and look at the areas of possible instability in southern Europe. One can see that Romania is surrounded by potential areas of instability, and because of the unique geography of Romania I think it's very important that Romania can be an area of stability for southern Europe. With regard to the chances of Romania to be integrated into NATO, this is a question that is more appropriate for the political authorities, because obviously it is a political decision as to the timing of integration into NATO. But I take it as a very serious responsibility to provide the best military advice I can to the political authorities. That's why I'm here - to learn first hand from your military leaders, as well as your government leaders and your parliamentarians, so that I can provide that military advice at the appropriate time.

Q: How can NATO show that Romania is an important nation for the Alliance….?

General Ralston: With regard to the importance of Romania and what NATO can do to show that NATO thinks that it's important, the way our system works is that nations, as opposed to NATO, provide resources. One of my reasons for coming very early in my tenure as SACEUR is to show all the nations that I consider Romania to be extremely important. And many of the NATO nations are contributing in their own way. They contribute towards the training of Romanian forces; they provide advice with regard to the reform effort; and they provide equipment. One of the very important visits that I made here was to your air sovereignty operations center. You have five very modern radars that have been provided under various programs that enhance the interoperability with NATO. So in summary, one of the reasons for my visit very early was to relay to the nations how important Romania is and to encourage the nations to be as forthcoming as they can in support of Romania.

Q: Progress of reform/Romanian support for NATO and EU.

General Ralston: Let me answer your latter question first. I take it as my responsibility to certainly stay out of the internal politics of any nation that I visit, so those are decisions that only Romanians can make. Let me tell you that based on my previous experience prior to becoming SACEUR, it was my sense that there was broad support for NATO across the spectrum within Romania and among the Romanian people. So that's an issue for Romanians to deal with, not me.

With regard to your first question, we've spent a lot of time with your senior military leadership discussing the progress of the reform effort. I think they have a very good plan. I know that they are committed to making that plan come true, and I received that commitment not just from the senior military but from the Minister of Defense, from the Prime Minister and from the President. I don't want to underestimate the difficulty of any military reform. I know from the past ten years within my own military that reform is difficult. M

ost all of the NATO nations have undergone a significant reform of their military in the past ten years, and every one of their militaries will tell you that it's been a very difficult process. But they will all also tell you that it was a very necessary thing to do and the outcome was worth the effort. I have every confidence that General Chelaru will be successful in his reform, and he has my fullest support.

Q: Air campaign - accusations regarding bombing of civilian targets.

General Ralston: I can tell you that NATO and the NATO nations went to extraordinary efforts to make sure that every target that was selected was reviewed, not only for military effectiveness, but was reviewed by the legal authorities as to whether or not it met the requirements of the rules of war. I can tell you that extraordinary efforts were taken to eliminate those targets that may have been useful militarily but where the cost in terms of human life was excessive. These issues were looked at exhaustively by the ICTY, and the ICTY made the considered judgment that these charges were not correct. I believe this record speaks for itself.