Basescu & Tauscher: Serving your constituency…

Ellen Tauscher (US Congress Representative), Craig Kennedy (GMFUS President), Traian Basescu (President of Romania)

The opening session of the GMF Bucharest Conference was a collection of keynote addresses, delivered firstly by Romania’s President, Mr. Traian Basescu and then by US Congreswoman Ellen Tauscher.

Basescu did nothing extraordinarly special. His speech was far from being as coherent, bold and charming as his open interventions, which is a pity. I trully wish people who can be great speakers by nature would continue to use these skills even in the most official contexts, when theoretically some other protocol rules apply (which, by the way, I do not consider to be the case). Secondly, the main ideas President Basescu put forward were the great support given by Romania to Georgia and Ukraine’s integration in the Membership Action Plan (we all now by now that this has failed), and also Romania’s interest in clear-cut mechanisms for the functioning of the anti-missile shield. Last but not least, Basescu stressed Romania’s continuous support for Afghanistan (which is probably a reflection of public opinion in Romania, though Afghanistan and Iraq were wrongfully mixed together in many parts of the world, so a reflection on one may actually be a mistaken reflection on the other). Surprisingly to some, maybe, the only “juicy” part of his address referred to Serbia, and to the imperative need for both Romania and NATO to support this country in recovering from the mistakes of its past leaders.  Naturally I wonder how Mr. Basescu and other supporters of Serbia would account to the violent way Serbs reacted to the recent political actions that took place in Kosovo… You don’t need love between nations to ensure democracy. Rhetoric mistakes peace for love. All you need is a minimum standard of decency with respect to peace. Which, to my mind, both countries failed to achieve. Anyway, my main curiosity would be how much of Romania’s foreign policy priority reflect the broader opinions of the Romanian public. I don’t think there has been much investigation on this topic. But our president still claims to be a reflection of popular sovereignty.

Ellen Tauscher’s address, on the other hand, was much more personal. Straightforward and emotional, it discussed the sacrifices done by US soldiers in Afghanistan, especially the ones originating in her constituency. I was very much taken aback by Ms. Tauscher’s view (she is a democrat, let it be noted) that NATO should be primarily a war-fighting organization, which is totally contrasting with recent approaches towards strategy-building in NATO. Nonetheless, I was amazed at Tauscher’s website. It really sets a connection between Ellen Tauscher the congresswoman and her constituents… One of the most important sections of the website is “services”, where inhabitants of California’s 10th Congressional District can relate directly to their representative and expect personalized assistance with their personal problems, ranging from obtaining federal grants, to opening up small business and providing assistance for veterans. I really wish I’d find the same feeling of “representation” in Romanian politics… MPs are elected to serve people. And this should be more than a catchphrase…