What about NATO?

It is pretty obvious that Iliescu is no longer a worthy political competitor and this enables Adrian Nastase to have such high ambitions.
However, his chances are conditioned by very few elements, such as economic reform and integration into the Euro-Atlantic structures.
If Nastase is as reasonable and rational as he claims, any other variant should be eliminated, since it would sacrifice his political future.
The economic reform might very well prove to be a chimera if one wants to turn it into electoral capital. For the time being, Adrian Nastase seems to be determined to pick the first fruit of the reform during the following years, which he could offer to all Romanians.
But Victor Ciorbea had the same wish and it didn’t come true eventually. We must admit that the context is pretty different now; if the economic reform is to be put into practice now, it will engender much social dissatisfaction. Romania’s integration into the EU during the next four years is not possible. The other opportunity which remains is the integration into NATO – several western high officials
say that this might happen in 2002 if certain conditions are met.
For the future Premier and ruling party leader, such a thing would represent an extraordinary victory. But this matter is related to the answer to two questions – is he ready for such an offensive? Can the recent evolution of the relationships between the NATO members make possible an extension of the Alliance in 2002?
From the future Premier’s intentions, we can deduce that he has already thought about this extension process. As a matter of fact, the appointment of the Romanian ambassador in Washington, Mircea Geoana, as Minister of External Affairs in the future government is pretty relevant. Geoana has been Romania’s ambassador in America for more than five years and his relations with the most influential Democrats and the Republicans are excellent. USA’s opposition had a certain influence on the fact that Romania wasn’t invited to the NATO summit which took place in 1997. Constantinescu staked everything on the French cards and didn’t take into account USA’s decisive influence. By appointing Geoana the head of the Romanian diplomacy, Nastase shows us that he doesn’t want to repeat the fault of the previous government and that he is interested in a better short-term relation with US.
But what can the Nastase government do since so many elements concerning Romania’s integration into NATO do not depend on it? A lot of things. Sooner or later, NATO will extend anyway. Any good action performed by the Nastase government will be noticed. Moreover, NATO officials might want to extend the Alliance and include Romania into it, but there is a risk that our country might not be ready for such a thing. In this case, the politician Adrian Nastase could remain a simple political figure like Victor Ciorbea and Radu Vasile, whereas Romania might preserve its buffer position between NATO and Russia.
(Claudiu RAUS)