U.S. Antimissile System Operational In Romania As Of 2015

"According to the calendar agreed with the United States, facilities on Romanian territory will be operational as of 2015," Basescu said after a High National Defense Council meeting.

Basescu said Romania has accepted a proposition of U.S. President Barack Obama, who has invited the country, a NATO and EU member, to participate in the development of the United States' antimissile defense system and the country will host intercepting elements on its territory.

Basescu said Obama's message was delivered to Bucharest by the American sub-secretary of state for arms control, with whom he had a meeting Thursday morning.

The Romanian head of state underscored the development of the U.S. antimissile system is not aimed at Russia.

Basescu added bilateral negotiations will follow and Romania and the United States need to seal agreements that would then require Parliament ratification.

Former defense minister and head of the Senate's defense committee Teodor Melescanu said after the president's announcement the antimissile shield agreement would have no trouble passing through Parliament, adding antimissile security is among Romania's priorities and the United States' new version of the plan is more flexible and better suits defense needs.

The Obama administration in September last year scrapped a Bush-era plan that would have placed anti-missile defense bases in Poland and the Czech Republic. The initial plan had met with fierce objection by Russia, which saw it as a threat to its own national security. The new system puts more emphasis on mobile interceptors rather than fixed bases set up in Eastern Europe.

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