The participation of Romania’s President Nicușor Dan at the first Board of Peace meeting in Washington, chaired by US President Donald Trump, contributes “as a trust and confidence builder” between Bucharest and Washington and demonstrates “independence of thought and leadership in the region”, considers James Carafano, from The Heritage Foundation, a top conservative think tank close to the Republican Party and the MAGA movement of President Trump.
In an exclusive interview granted to CaleaEuropeană.ro in Washington after President’s Dan blitz visit to Washington, James Carafano – who holds the position of Senior Counselor of the Vice President of the Heritage Foundation – talks about Romania’s role in Europe and in its partnership with the United States, emphasizing what Bucharest should do to that respect.
“I see good signs from this government”, he added, from his office in the Heritage Foundation, close to the US Capitol, referring to the Government in Bucharest and to President Dan’s administration ability to put forward a security and economic deal between Romania and the US.
He also takes on some of the sensible issues in the transatlantic alliance, including ideological views of the US National Security Strategy, displaying the bigger picture that “the United States needs Europe and other allies to be structurally capable of sustaining, both theater competition with China mainly and with Russia at a lower scale”.
Romania is the anchor of the Eastern flank. What’s next?
Asked about his take on President’s Dan visit to Washington, Carafano went straight to one of his favorite theses – that Romania is one of the three super critical important countries that are the center-piece of NATO deterrence against Russia.
“One is obviously Poland. Poland is the new West Germany. It is right in the middle of the front line. It’s a massive obstacle. (…) The second most important country is Ukraine. It doesn’t matter if Ukraine is in NATO or not, because the Russians can never attack NATO and just drive by Ukraine and wave. Ukraine is a factor for the Russians, whether it’s part of NATO or not. It’s part of the future of NATO deterrence. And the third one is Romania. Romania is indispensable. It is the anchor of the eastern flank, right on the Black Sea. From a security standpoint, a strong Romania capability is important”, he argued.
From his point of view, this strategic position of Romania can be translated into the dynamics of cooperation with the US on the security side and the economic side, with the latter focusing on energy, critical minerals and economic development.
“I think it reflected in President Dan’s visit here, the things that Romania brings to the table that are valuable to the U.S., both from an economic and economic security perspective, conventional energy, nuclear energy, critical mineral development, both upstream, downstream, a platform for the future economic integration of Moldova and Ukraine into the larger economy of Europe, connecting to the Black Sea, developing the port Constanța. And these are all things which are just right in America’s wheelhouse, in America’s interest”, Carafano stated.
Big, beautiful and bold – How to get Trump’s interest
Asked how Romania can insert all of these under the auspices of the strategic partnership, The Heritage Foundation senior counselor unveiled an approach on US President Donald Trump interests.
“Trump likes deals that are big, bold and beautiful”, where the first combines all the massive economic and security related activities that the United States and Romania could do together
“Beautiful says, you know, that, you know, it is touching a lot of things which are critical in the United States”, he adds, while getting interrupted: “Like being here at the first Board of Peace meeting”.
Nicușor Dan’s attendance to the BoP meeting – “an independence of mind in Romania”
According to Carafano, the gesture of President Dan showing on for the initial Board of Peace meeting is “an independence of mind in Romania” that is respected in Washington.
“I think that helps as a trust and confidence builder. I also think it’s good for Romania. It’s demonstrating, you know, independence of thought and leadership in the region and that we’re not going to be told how to act on the world stage”, he said, referring to Nicușor Dan’s participation to the BoP first gathering.
Continuing with the third part – of being bold -, the Heritage Foundation’s expert refers to put a deal on the table that is good for the United States and good for Romania.
From big, beautiful and bold to… Romania – the gateway of the Middle Corridor into Europe
“And then you look at America’s other interests. Very interested in the Middle Corridor, connecting South Caucasus and Central Asia. Romania is critical because Romania is really the gateway, right, from the Middle Corridor into Europe”, James Carafano said, pointing about that the same view is available for the Middle East Corridor that is going to connect into Southern Europe.
According to him, Romania needs the boldness of vision to put all the package together. “I see good signs of that from this government. You’ve got to be proactive, and this is the one thing that we’ve seen across the board”, the American expert on security and foreign policy added, referring to the Government in Bucharest and to President Dan’s administration.
US stance on a Europe in “decline” towards “civilizational erasure”: It’s not ideology, it’s pragmatism
In the interview for CaleaEuropeană.ro, James Carafano rejected that there is a euro-atlantic conflict between values and interests that’s often portrayed, but he recognised that the current US administration and main European countries have different views about free speech and migration.
“The American concerns about the future of Europe, their competitiveness, their security, level of freedom in Europe are genuine because we genuinely want and need Europe as a strong partner. The overwhelming approach of this president in foreign policy is to be pragmatic. (…) And because it’s pragmatic, it doesn’t mean it’s devoid of values” he said.
Being pragmatic means that the US administration works with partners to advance America’s interests regardless of the political persuasions of its allies, said Carafano, after being asked if the criticism on Europe in the American National Security Strategy is a strategic mindset or a political rhetoric.
From his stance, Europe is not a continent in decline. It has a very promising future if it addresses fundamental challenges, like demographic and growth, with unacceptably high energy prices that are preventing real growth and preserving free speech.
“I’ve always said if Europe were a stock I would buy Europe stock”, Carafano stated, observing that even Europeans that do not agree with the US President see the challenges of the continent.
Trump wants strong, free and secure Europe. But not united?
The Heritage Foundation expert did not embrace the idea that the US is encouraging EU internal fragmentation, pointing out that the U.S. goal is a strong, free and secure Europe.
“This administration will work with anybody that can get Europe there. Because that’s in our interest. (…) A lot of people point to the negative comments in the national security strategy and ignore the sentence at the end which says Europe is a critical strategic partner for the United States”, he deplored, after the European media outlets and analysts have underlined the blasts received by Europe in the overarching strategic document of the US administration.
Carafano also referred to the visit of Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Slovakia and Hungary, countries led by PMs Robert Fico and Viktor Orban, which are keener to Donald Trump and have political tensions with EU institutions.
“People say Rubio went to Slovakia and he went to Hungary because he likes them. But he also went there to say, how are you guys going to get off Russian energy? Because you being on Russian energy and Russian energy imports are just fueling the war against Europe”, he insisted.
Asked about the fact that from the phrase “a strong, free and secure Europe” the keyword “united Europe” is missing, James Carafano replied that American conservatives see Europe as a collection of nation states, criticizing the idea of a single governance structure.
“What American conservatives mean is a Europe that is whole, free and prosperous and secure. (..) Our idea of a Europe whole is these nation states cooperating and collaborating with each other to mutual benefit. It doesn’t mean about diminishing national sovereignty. And quite honestly, I would argue from our perspective that the diminishment of sovereignty is creating a lot of the problems in Europe”, he explained.
Carafano went further and criticized the European energy policy driven by Brussels. He challenged the idea that a consolidation of power would foster competitiveness, freedom and security.
“We have an energy policy which is really being driven by Brussels, which is giving higher prices, less energy and less reliable energy. It almost resulted in Europe becoming entirely, before the Ukraine war, entirely dependent on Russian gas”, the American security and foreign policy expert added.
From his point of view the idea of a European super state is “already dead”. “The notion that we are moving to some European super state, I think that idea is already dead. And that’s not me wishing it or me, you know, projecting myself on Europe”, Carafano underlined.
Trump is an “old man in a hurry” that spends more time on Europe and Middle East than China
Describing Donald Trump as an “old man in a hurry”, the Senior Counselor of The Heritage Foundation advocated for the pragmatic view of US foreign policy and acknowledged that the United States cannot go alone on the global stage.
“The United States could not go it alone. Matter of fact, there is no power in the world today that can recreate kind of what you had in the Cold War or in the age of imperialism with a hard sphere of influence over a significant area that you have military. We don’t have it. Nobody has it in the world today”, he emphasized.
Carafano called for a look at the US administration actions to see that it is not isolationist, but on the contrary – it focuses on three main theaters: Europe, Middle East and Asia.
At the same time, he questioned the much-claimed US pivot to Asia. “If you look at the President’s first year in office, he has spent way more time on European affairs and on Middle East affairs than he has on Asian affairs”, Carafano said.
“United States needs Europe and other allies to be structurally capable of sustaining both theater competition with China mainly and with Russia at a lower scale. It really reflects the essence of Trump’s second presidency. I call Donald Trump the old man in a hurry”, the foreign policy and security expert stressed.
As an old man in a hurry, Trump has three more years to leave his footprint on US global power play, which Carafano are peace through strength and economic growth and prosperity. “To do that, he needs to have friends and allies in all three theaters”, The Heritage Foundation Senior Counselor stated, contesting the notion that this US President is an “isolationist”.