Andrei Marga, former Romanian foreign affairs minister, firmly maintains his previous opinion about the necessary territorial adjustments Ukraine will have to accept in order to have a durable peace in Europe.

I translated what I consider the most relevant part of his article, titled Sovereignty – yesterday and today, published in Cotidianul.

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„The explanation for the conflict resides, in my opinion, in the clash between one side’s mobilization, geographical and historical conditions and the security guarantees asked by the other side. German and French analyses tell us so. In this conflict both sovereignty in the current acceptance and the security framework agreed upon between superpowers, at the beginning of the ’90s, are trampled on. The Harvard and Chicago schools mentioned it unequivocally. The path to follow to end the conflict implies negotiations between USA, Russia, Ukraine, Germany, EU and China. The practical solution comprises various components, amongst them ceding territories in order to obtain the natural borders configuration for this part of Europe. When the whole dossier of the conflict was taken into consideration – from Macron, Kissinger, Israel’s & other countries representatives to the academia – this was suggested and Joe Biden himself didn’t reject the possibility.

In my opinion, there will be no ‘winners’ in this conflict. But left with a smoldering conflict or with expedients Europe won’t find its peace and Europeans are those who’ll pay the bill.

I know only the solutions I read about. But it is less important who proposed and what solutions were proposed in the past because the current configuration of the conflict is new. A lot of countries are getting involved so the recombined elements present us with a new situation.

A new European security architecture is about to be born, unfortunately through the waste of human lives. The Minsk accord was blocked, we know how and by whom, nevertheless the conflict must be stopped, peace will happen after negotiations and negotiations will reach the territories issue. There’s no other stable solution!

The urgent matter is to get out from a war propaganda narrative – which, by the way, has nothing to do with patriotism, democracy or the common good – and open negotiations. My reflection considers the perspective of a durable peace.

The states that we are living in can, of course, display generous principles, but those who speak in their name aren’t necessary up to the task. Because someone lives in a democracy doesn’t mean he is a democrat and needs to give lessons to others. Often, it is quite the reverse! Some just take advantage of democracy only to reach their petty goals. Their pretense to be ‘pro-democrats’, ‘pro-Europeans’, ‘pro-Atlanticists’ is ridiculous when you see their actions. To be democrat, pro-European, pro-Atlanticist means to have integrity, to communicate and be open to dialogue before anything else.

In Romania, under the current regime, it is observable amongst its exponents the temptation for a unique truth [theirs]. They operate with the contemptible logic ‘either you accept our stitched narrative or you take the side of our rivals‘ and under the obsession they hold the monopoly of truth. We can also notice the tendency to speak instead of others, under the assumption they know what others intentions and motivations are. Some believe their parvenus’ cheating and defrauding methods are what makes others tick too. Fortunately, there are still enough citizens thinking with their own mind and very differently motivated.

What I have said regarding the conflict in Ukraine holds its ground perfectly. Moreover, ‘critics’ didn’t come out with any counterargument to what I’ve spoken, while events keep confirming my point. Of course, only for those who don’t replace civilized relations with onerous interests.”