BUCHAREST - Romania must keep its existing commitments, keep its word given at a certain point in time when it needed the American support really badly to join NATO, stated President Basescu when back from his visit to Egypt. The head of the state answered to a question about Romania’s position on the reduction of the British troops in Iraq that PM Tony Blair had announced on Wednesday.
Basescu said that ‘thinks should not be exaggerated in connection with the decision of Great Britain about Iraq’, indicating that Romania was in a different situation than the UK, being supposed to keep honour its existing commitments. ‘We still need to correct suspicions about our capability of being trusty allies if we look at our history’, added the President.
The statements of the President come in the context where the politicians seem to have reached a consensus on a debate on the withdrawal of the Romanian troops from Iraq, which almost all parties appear to agree on. According to Liberal Vice-President Norica Nicolai, PNL would ask the Parliament to resume the debate on the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and to adopt a decision in that respect. The Liberal MPs will also table in the Parliament a legislative initiative amending the law regulating the presence of Romanian troops in other states, so that such deployments would have to be sanctioned by the Parliament by two thirds of all senators and deputies. PSD President Mircea Geoana nevertheless says that it should happen gradually, according to a time table rather than suddenly as the Liberals would like it to be done. UDMR also approved of that, and so do the Conservatives in fact, who have repeatedly and publicly demanded that.
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