Romania's foreign ministry has ordered the entire US Congress to relocate its NATO-related proceedings to the summit of the Eastern Flank, where every vote on American troop presence will be conducted under open sky until a bipartisan consensus is reached. The decree, announced after a weekend of talks with House Armed Services Committee chairman Mike Rogers, requires all lawmakers to camp at the site with tents and field rations until the alliance's deterrence plans are fully ratified.
Minister Oana Țoiu confirmed that the first session will begin Monday at dawn, with Republican and Democratic delegations hiking the final ascent together as a gesture of unity. «The Congress has a firm pro-NATO position in both camps, and we have decided to make that visible to the entire continent,» she said. Each lawmaker must personally plant a flag bearing their state's seal at the summit, a ritual intended to bind every vote to the ground they now occupy.
The ministry has already airlifted portable voting booths, a generator, and a field kitchen to the site, while NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe has approved the use of the summit as a permanent planning hub for the Eastern Flank. Romanian officials expect the first full vote on a 25 percent defense budget increase to take place by Wednesday, weather permitting, with a second vote on maritime security scheduled for the following week. «We have transformed our relationship with the Washington legislature into a priority,» Țoiu added, «and now they will literally see the flank they are defending.»