The Romania-US Strategic Partnership and the Security of the Wider Black Sea Region: Historical Landmarks

The Strategic Partnership, launched in 1997 with the purpose of becoming an advanced mechanism of bilateral cooperation between Romania and the United States regarding fields of strategic interest for both countries, is an important element of maintaining peace and stability in South-Eastern Europe and in the Black Sea area. The Partnership determined a substantial evolution of the bilateral relations based on an intense political speech, as an important aspect for the regional security, and promoted democracy near the Euro-Atlantic community. Romania’s relation with the United States, being focused on security aspects, proves its utility, considering that to this day the North Atlantic Alliance and the European Union do not have a common strategic vision regarding the Wider Black Sea Region. This is due to conceptual differences and to the fact that, unlike Central and Eastern Europe—where the integrations of NATO and EU were linked, in the Black Sea area, the situation is different, having in mind that only Romania and Bulgaria have been part of these structures. This study’s purpose is to present both the evolution of this cooperation format between Romania and the United States in the last two decades and its relevance for the new regional security system. In the circumstances in which the events in Ukraine in 2014 lead to unprecedented tension (Post-Cold War) between the Russian Federation and the Occident, the USA’s involvement in ensuring the security of the extended Black Sea Region gains even more relevance.