The corridor of the countries between the Baltic, Adriatic and Black Sea is seen by US geostrategists, among which the most prominent is George Friedman, as the only ‘barrier’ that can come between a German-Russian alliance, where Russia contributes national resources and Germany contributes technology.
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has already announced the second “Three Seas Initiative” summit will take place in Bucharest. The first was held in Warsaw in 2017, where US President Donald Trump himself participated and delivered a historic speech about US commitment to defending the countries in the Central and Eastern Europe.
Heads of state from 12 Central and Eastern European countries will attend the summit – Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary. The summit will also have a significant economic component, about attracting and providing mutual support to investment and trade between the countries in the region and the US.
The US is raising the bet on Romania, following President Klaus Iohannis’ visit to the White House and after the PSD government raised the defense spending from 1.3% to 2% of the GDP, that is from EUR2.4 billion to EUR3.74 billion in 2017, as shown by the 2017 budgeted figures published by the Finance Ministry.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)