VZCZCXRO8305
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHBM #0169/01 0460537
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 150537Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY BUCHAREST
TO RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6047
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 0856

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BUCHAREST 000169 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/NCE AND H 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OREP PREL RO
SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR CODEL ORTIZ VISIT TO ROMANIA 
FEBRUARY 19-20 
 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  Embassy Bucharest warmly welcomes you to Romania, 
and is eager for you to tour what will soon be the 
US-Romanian forward operating facilities in Constanta. 
President Traian Basescu has championed a strong strategic 
partnership with the United States, committing Romania to a 
trans-Atlantic foreign policy focus to match its recent 
membership in the European Union. In fact, the US-Romanian 
partnership in the security and defense field is second to 
none. Romania is one of our staunchest allies in the global 
war on terrorism and in international peace support 
operations, providing troops and strategic airlift in 
Afghanistan, Iraq and the Balkans.  It also prides itself on 
its participation in NATO's Operation Active Endeavor and 
various UN missions throughout Africa. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  The joint use of the Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base 
and the 34th Mechanized Infantry Battalion base that you will 
be visiting was made possible by the bilateral Defense 
Cooperation Agreement signed by Secretary Rice and Foreign 
Minister Ungureanu in December 2005.  It was a landmark event 
in our relationship, and set the stage for still more 
cooperation in the future.  Romanian Defense Minister 
Frunzaverde just completed a trip to Washington where he had 
a series of very productive meetings with Defense, State and 
NSC officials.  Your visit is another opportunity to 
underscore the importance of the US-Romanian partnership in 
helping build cooperation and promote Euro-Atlantic values in 
the Black Sea region. Romania's National Security Strategy 
aims at promoting greater U.S. and NATO strategic involvement 
in the Black Sea region, which represents in Bucharest's eyes 
a zone of potential instability, ranging from the so-called 
"frozen conflicts" to trafficking in drugs, persons and 
weapons.  Romania is traditionally also interested in 
counterbalancing Moscow's influence in its neighborhood; 
President Basescu and other Romanian officials have spoken 
out forcefully in recent months about Europe's need to 
diversify its energy supplies and open the door to various 
"Southern Corridor" projects that traverse Romania and other 
countries in the region. 
 
¶3. (SBU)  While the US and Romania continue to advance the 
partnership both within NATO and in other initiatives, like 
the Global Peace Support Operations Initiative and the 
Proliferation Security Initiative, the domestic political 
scene has been particularly tumultuous of late.  The 
center-right coalition government has been hamstrung by sharp 
conflicts between President Basescu and Prime Minister 
Tariceanu. The two leaders' accusations and 
counter-accusations of corruption, influence peddling, and 
oligarchic tendencies have become more volatile since the 
country's EU accession in January. Not all of their dust-ups 
have been limited to domestic issues.  Last June, for 
instance, the Prime Minister, pushed by radicals in his 
Liberal Party who sought to embarrass Basescu, announced a 
plan to withdraw Romanian troops from Iraq without consulting 
the President or Romania's allies.  While Basescu and Defense 
Minister Frunzaverde have confirmed Romania will continue to 
meet its commitments in Iraq, some Liberals still hope to 
foster a parliamentary debate over Romania's troop 
deployments. 
 
¶4. (SBU)  Taking advantage of the volatile rhetoric within 
the governing coalition, the opposition Social Democrats on 
February 12, filed a motion to suspend President Basescu for 
30 days on grounds of constitutional abuse of office, with 
the aim of removing him from office permanently in a 
subsequent referendum.  There are apparently sufficient 
opposition votes in Parliament to make the threat a real one. 
 Part of Basescu's political problems are self-made; he was 
described famously by one opposition politician as "a lone 
wolf" and his style is direct and confrontational.  At the 
same time, he retains a level of popular support that is 
unmatched by any other single politician.  It remains to be 
seen whether he can face down both his critics within the 
governing alliance (including a Prime Minister who has 
considerable authority as the head of government) and his 
diehard opponents in Parliament on both the right and the 
left.  The same configuration of center-left politicians from 
the last government, former Communists, right-wing 
nationalists and regional "barons" are trying to unseat the 
Minister of Justice, whose efforts to fight corruption and 
reform the judiciary have earned plaudits both in Brussels 
and in Washington. 
 
¶5. (SBU)  Just a month after its entry into the European 
Union, Romania is facing the prospect of months of 
uncertainty and instability that could raise anew questions 
about the country's readiness to move beyond its legacy of 
 
BUCHAREST 00000169  002 OF 002 
 
 
post-Communist, oligarchic business and political 
interactions.  The good news is that, for the moment, there 
is still broad acceptance in the political class and among 
Romanians as a whole, in the importance of Romania's 
strategic partnership with the U.S.  Also, the current 
political instability has stayed within legal and 
constitutional bounds, however torrid the rhetoric and vivid 
the theatrics.  Meanwhile, we have emphasized that while we 
cannot comment on the constitutional debate itself, it is 
important that the political issues be worked out 
democratically, transparently and responsibly.  Likewise, 
Romania must continue to build on the progress it has made in 
recent years in fighting corruption and strengthening the 
rule of law.  Nor would we welcome a turn of events 
politically which would leave irresponsible actors like the 
extremist head of the "Greater Romania" Party in a position 
to benefit from the crisis.  With one of the fastest growing 
economies in Europe, a talented workforce, and a strategic 
location on the Eastern rim of both NATO and the EU, Romania 
has a lot of positives with which to work, if only its 
political class can overcome its reliance on selfish, 
zero-sum politics. 
TAUBMAN