Nicușor Dan makes the first external travel as president / to the summit will also attend Mark Rutte and Volodimir Zelenski

The President of Romania, Nicușor Dan, will participate on Monday, July 2, in the summit of the Bucharest 9 (B9) Plus the Nordic countries, hosted in Vilnius by the Lithuanian counterpart Gitanas Nausėda. It is Dan's first external movement from taking over the mandate.

The summit brings together representatives of the countries on the eastern and northern flank of NATO. Ukrainian President, Volodimir Zelenski and the Secretary General of the Alliance, Mark Rutte will be present.

For President Nicușor Dan, the summit of Vilnius is the first external travel since the official takeover of the presidential mandate and an opportunity to interact with the Romanian partners in the region, but also with the Secretary General of NATO, who also congratulated the day after winning the elections.

Leaders from 15 countries, present at Summit B9

According to the Presidential Administration in Lithuania, the State Chiefs of Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latuia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary – nine member countries of B9 will participate in Vilnius. They join the leaders of the Nordic states (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) and Ukraine, represented by President Volodimir Zelenski.

The new Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, former prime minister of the Netherlands, also participates in the meeting.

The summit will take place at the Palace of the Great Duke of Lithuania, who was, during the great duchy of Lithuania, the political and diplomatic center of the country. The palace was destroyed in 1801 during the occupation of the Tsarist Empire and was rebuilt after, in 1990, Lithuania gained its independence from the Soviet Union.

According to the official announcement of the Lithuanian presidency, the central themes of the summit will be “strengthening the security and defense of the eastern flank of the Alliance” and how it will continue support for Ukraine.

At the same time, the leaders of the 15 countries gathered in Vilnius will establish together the priorities for the NATO summit in The Hague, which takes place between June 24 and 25 and will be the first summit of the Alliance since the position of Secretary General is occupied by Mark Rutte.

B9, between solidarity and dissensions

The B9 format was launched in 2015 by the Presidents of Romania and Poland, Klaus Iohannis and Andrzej Duda, in the context of Crimea annexation, as a platform for consulting and coordinating the positions of NATO countries on the eastern flank.

At the 2022 summit that was organized in Bucharest and held a few months after Russia attacked Ukraine, the co-founders of the format presented a common statement of the nine Member States by which:

• They condemned the “unprovocated and unjustified aggression of Russia against Ukraine, who benefited from Belarus's complicity and used the Black Sea as a launch platform”
• Reiterated support for Ukraine and strengthening the Eastern flank
• Underlined the importance of links between North America and Europe
• They welcomed “Finland and Sweden's decisions to request accession to NATO” (Finland officially entered NATO in 2023, and Sweden in 2024)
• They reaffirmed the firm commitment to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Moldova and Georgia.

Two years later, in 2024, when the B9 summit took place in Riga, the President of Bulgaria, Rumen Radev, blocked the adoption of a common statement of the nine Member States on military aid for Ukraine. According to the Bulgarian news agency BTA, Radev asked to change the text so that each state can decide on how Ukraine helps.

Radev then said that Bulgaria was actively involved in the preparations for the Riga summit and that it modified the initial proposal of the common statement, which provided for a commitment from each country in the B9 format to provide military assistance.

“Finally, the right position has been adopted that each country must decide alone and depending on their own capabilities if and how to support Ukraine – either with military, financial or humanitarian aid,” said Bulgarian president, according to EURActiv.

Hungary risks exclusion from B9

Member of B9 is also Hungary led by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, close to Putin. Hungarian President Tamás Sulyok was missing from the April 2024 summit, without offering official explanations, according to Reuters.

Last year, B9 leaders were considering the exclusion of Hungary from the Bucharest 9 format, wrote the Financial Times. Former President Klaus Iohannis then cataloged the information as a fake news.

“No, it has not been discussed about any exclusion and will not be discussed. It is a fake news information. It was not a topic and it is not the first time that a state is not represented by the president, even if it would be optimal to be at the highest possible level,” said Klaus Iohannis.

The information regarding the possible exclusion of Hungary came in the context in which, the neighboring country opposed the aid granted to Ukraine and the approval of any measures taken by NATO to increase military support or to accelerate the candidacy of Russia to the North Atlantic Alliance.

What happens to Vilnius

The representatives of the fifteen states participated in an informal dinner on Sunday before the summit itself.

On Monday, the leaders will be received by the Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda who will also give a speech before the plenary session. At 3:00 pm, Romania time will be held a joint press conference attended by the President of Lithuania, the general secretary of NATO, the President of Poland, Nicușor Dan, the Prime Minister of Denmark, and the President of Ukraine.

The first lady of Lithuania, Diana Nausėdienė, organizes a special program for the wives of the heads present at the Summit. Along with the Czech first lady, Eva Pavlová, will open an exhibition about Lithuano-Cehe relationships at the National Library. Later, together with Poland's first lady, Kornhauser-Duda, will visit a bilingual kindergarten and an asylum for patients with terminal diseases.

The summit will take place in the context on which the second round of the Polish presidential elections will take place on Sunday. At the summit of now, Poland will be represented by President Andrzej Duda, at the end of the mandate.

Nicușor Dan was last Sunday in Poland, where he showed his support for the pro-European candidate, the mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski.