This evening, I?ve attended several interesting meetings, a very special one being that with the President of Azerbaijan, who, in the Caucasus area, tries to be an active part in solving some disputes arising from the past and representing vital issues for the future of the said area and for a special relation which is to be settled especially with the Atlantic Alliance.

I also had a very interesting discussion with the representatives of the International Jewish Community. Rabbi Andrew Baker is one of the most famous leaders of this community with an extremely important role in supporting Romania?s efforts in order to be accepted in the Atlantic Alliance. His being here, in this reunion, means, in a way, the acceptance of the fact that this community has very well understood the importance of NATO enlargement and militated so that the effort enforced at Vilnius upon the NATO enlargement would be fulfilled.

And now, when we are only a few days away of the official finalization of our countries joining the Atlantic Alliance, this reunion in Bratislava registers, in a way, the gratitude towards those who, being more visionary than others, had a great contribution to the fulfillment of this project.

We have also discussed about internal issues concerning the Jewish community in Romania, the passing away of the Academician Cajal, and the fact that, in a way, the Jewish community shall look both for a leader and an interlocutor for the authorities. Of course, we shall be the ones to comment upon the implications of such a decision, but it is obvious that it will be very hard for someone to rapidly occupy the position previously held by Mr. Cajal.

Then, we had a long discussion with the press representatives, and especially OSCE representatives, upon nowadays Europe, upon what has happened or might happen due to the terrorist attacks in Madrid. Because of these accelerated changes, Europe is under a great tension, on one hand, due to the non-finalization of the European Constitution and, on the other hand, due to the massive enlargement of the European Union with 10 more countries at once, which created great tension and reaction within the syndicates of the 15 initial member states.

This was proved by the fact that the labor market for these newly-accepted countries has been blocked, this doubtlessly creating the discomfort for the newly accepted member states of the European Union, too.

I would like to discuss no more upon all this issues as we have just started to

discuss about them, but it is obvious that to this tension, increased also by the delicate relation with the United States due to the crisis situation and military intervention in Iraq, there has been added the terrorist attacks in Spain, the political changes in this country which are to be assessed.

It is not very clear whether the change has been determined by a current of opinion or it is just the dissatisfaction regarding the manner the information upon the terrorist attacks has been discharged. It is obvious that the said assessment shall be done and more information shall be known, but things tend to get even more complicated due to the current events in Kosovo.

We are attentively observing the situation in Kosovo, as the events are closer to our country. We have mourned for the events of Madrid, for the loss of our fellow countrymen, but now, the number of such events in Europe is increasing as terrorist attacks took place in Russia, too.

We have to understand that the world we are living in isn?t safe anymore in any of the countries. That is why, we have the duty to join in liability and take common action against the causes of terrorism and terrorists, in general, and this represents a responsibility to all countries.