We don't withdraw from Iraq

-- On the contrary, CSAT (Supreme Council for National Defense) approved yesterday a supplement of 346 troops that are to be ready to join the 1625 ones around the world under UNO, NATO and EU command
The Supreme Council for National Defense has approved the package of forces and means that can be made available, in 2008, for the participation in missions of collective defense, for peace purposes, of humanitarian assistance and those of coalition-type. Practically, by the decision adopted yesterday in the CSAT, Romania will not withdraw its troops from Iraq the way PM Tariceanu would have wanted. He would state, until last Christmas, that the Romanian military in Iraq were to come back home. Traian Basescu managed to impose his viewpoint in this delicate matter that has fueled for the last few months the scandal between PNL (National Liberal Party) and Cotroceni Palace. The Liberal ministers members in the CSAT, headed by PM Tariceanu, weren't either as vehement as in the past in claiming a total withdrawal from Iraq, one of the reasons being that of the signals received from the US officials. They expressed on various channels their discontent towards the intention of the Government in Bucharest to withdraw its troops from the Iraqi theatre of operations. Right now, Romania has 495 militaries in Iraq (491 in the Iraqi Freedom mission and four military in the NTMI-NATO mission for training the Iraqi officers). As compared to 2007, the forces that can be dislocated for international missions under UNO, NATO and EU command, which are in the country now, will increase by 346 the number of military.
Dryness in CSAT
The PM handed the President, at the beginning of the meeting, a quite thick file containing updated information on the drought affecting Romania. Even though the topic hadn't been enlisted on the CSAT agenda on Wednesday morning, the head of State asked the PM to come to Cotroceni Palace with a detailed report on this matter and also with the measures the Government was going to take for combating the drought.
Among others, the document submitted by Tariceanu shows that the Executive will maintain the subventions for irrigation, it will take action to rebuild the irrigation system, and also to identify the ways of granting compensations for the crops affected by drought.
Moreover, the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture are to draw up a national strategy for combating the drought for a 20-year period.
On the other hand, Basescu asked the PM that, besides the financial support granted by the Executive, he should ask the EU the payment in advance for the subventions for the affected areas, this being a procedure also used by other Member States.

Doru Dragomir
Ziua Vineri 29 Iunie 2007 http://www.ziua.net/english