Can Bulgaria and Romania stop the aggression in the Black Sea? "The Black Sea is currently a test of the EU's ability to move from strategies to real geopolitical responsibility", says Meglena Kuneva.
Romanian authorities have launched a rescue operation after a fire broke out on the merchant ship Wide Trader this morning. There are 12 people on board, four of whom have been found safe, while the remaining eight are considered missing, Romanian media report. "Aircraft have been scrambled, but there is no talk of an attack yet", says DW correspondent in Bucharest Sabina Fati. Hours earlier, another ship was hit by a drone in Romanian waters, the country's media reported.
This is another incident in the Black Sea that calls into question common European security. The two damaged ships are in NATO territorial waters. "The Black Sea is currently a test of the EU's own ability to move from strategies that are very well thought out, very well coordinated, to real geopolitical responsibility," former Bulgarian European Commissioner Meglena Kuneva told DV.
Is Russia behind the attacks?
Yesterday, a tanker was hit near the town of Sulina. It is believed to have been hit by a drone. This is another similar incident, after the Turkish ship Royad Mammadov, which was carrying grain, was hit in the Black Sea in Romania's exclusive economic zone on October 5. "The technical investigation is still ongoing, but the attack on the ship is attributed to the Russian Federation for several reasons", Fati explains. The first are the official accusations from Kiev: "Volodymyr Zelensky explicitly stated that the merchant ship carrying Ukrainian corn loaded from the port of Izmail was attacked and sunk by two Russian drones", the journalist explains. "On the same day, the Ministry of Defense in Moscow confirmed massive attacks on the port infrastructure of Izmail, from where the ship had sailed, with the trajectory of the Russian air and sea drones intersecting directly with the location of the cargo ship in Romania's exclusive economic zone."
All these incidents fit perfectly into Russia's strategy to block grain exports from Ukraine, she adds. "In fact, Russia was named as responsible for the entire series of drone attacks that subsequently affected other commercial ships in Romanian and Bulgarian waters in the same month."
Will the moratorium requested by Bulgaria and Romania work?
Bulgaria is also investigating attacks on ships in its exclusive economic zone, where four vessels were already hit in October. After the latest attack on October 13, Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev summoned the Russian ambassador Eleonora Mitrofanova and pointed out that "logic indicates that the result is in favor of the Russian Federation." Mitrofanova has denied this and has launched her thesis that it could be a provocation by a third party, the Council of Ministers announced. One of the damaged ships - Chelsea 3 - will be repaired in Burgas. This will allow for a detailed inspection in order to find remains that will help establish the origin of the drones, the Bulgarian Prime Minister specified today in Brussels.
Radev is in Brussels, where the topic is expected to be the main topic at the opening meeting of the European Council today. At it, Bulgaria and Romania will request a moratorium on military operations in the Black Sea, announced Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev. "If a mechanism for monitoring and establishing responsibility is added to the moratorium, this is a very specific diplomatic goal," says Meglena Kuneva. "If we continue, we could think about a regional regime for safe shipping, already with coordination between Bulgaria, Turkey, Ukraine, the EU and other international organizations and of course, the latest political agreement on the Black Sea as a zone of peace, which implies a significantly broader settlement of the issues of war, territorial integrity, Europeanness and European security", summarizes the first Bulgarian European Commissioner.
It is important that the Black Sea is an area where there are no military actions, but it must be clear who started them, she adds. "A common call for all parties to end military actions should not dilute responsibility - who is to blame, who is carrying out these attacks. The discussion of the European Council today can give a boost in this direction."