Romania, as it results from the conclusions of the first supreme defense council of the country led by Nicușor Dan, shows that it remains on the Bucharest-Washington axis, but that at the same time it is on the part of the Europeans.
President Nicușor Dan
This balance was made by the EU leaders at the recent Hague summit, where everyone tried to thank Donald Trump, not only by increasing the defense budgets, but also by reducing criticism to Russia. The rally of the heads of state and government on the continent, around the US president could also have electoral calculations as it results from different studies. Today, the Supreme Council of Defense of the Country (CSAT) has analyzed the developments on the front and the stage of Ukraine-Russia negotiations “from the perspective of implications for Romania”. The summary made public by the Romanian Presidency results in some geopolitical directions, which are not argued in any way.
- Romania is directly interested in the security of Ukraine, which has a major impact on regional security and the whole continent. CSAT does not give any details about the geopolitical impact or the risks on the country. A recent study conducted, however, by the National Bank of Romania (BNR, study notebooks no.64, June 2025) states that in the absence of Russia's invasion in Ukraine, the Gross Domestic (GDP) would have been 1.4% higher in 2022, and inflation by 1.1% to 3% lower. In the coming years, the dynamics would have been quite different and probably would not have indebted as much. From the mathematics of the National Bank it follows that from the entire region, Romania was the most affected by the war: due to the proximity that trained the blocking of some investments, the exit of some capital and the collapse of many trade.
- Along with the other EU and NATO member states, Romania will continue to support Ukraine in the fight to defend its sovereignty, says CSAT, without explaining how this support will materialize, especially after Germany set the tone, and France and the United Kingdom followed it being ready to send Kiev long-range weapons. For the moment, however, according to the last report released by the Institute for the Study of the US war, in Saturday's attack on Sunday (June 28 to 29), the largest since the beginning of the War, Ukrainian forces have managed to break only one of the seven iskander ballistic missiles – and none of the four Kinzhal missiles. How can Bucharest shoulder that Ukraine does not happen to him? Does he have what? Maybe? He wants? The CSAT did not give such answers, nor did he elucidated if the Romanian aid for Ukraine will continue to remain secret, as former President Klaus Iohannis decided.
- Romania supports the efforts of the United States of America to cease the conflict in Ukraine and condemns the lack of political will from Moscow in the direction of peace and its refusal for a complete, immediately and unconditional armistice, it is shown in the summary of the debates that took place today in CSAT. Romania is at the forefront of the states that want peace, with 41% of the total population, according to the European Council on Foreign Relations (Ivan Krîstev, Mark Leonard, Trump's Revolution, Politico, June 23, 2025), which highlights that Trump's victory changed to Europe both the nature of internal politics and the geopolitical position.
Most Europeans are pessimistic and critical of Trump. Most of the EU country believes that the US president has failed in the Beijing competition, with the peace in Ukraine and the restoration of the economy in the US. The exceptions are Hungarians, Romanians and Poles. Only they all offer a largely positive evaluation of its economic policies.
Among the 10 extremist parties in the EU whose options have been tested by the European Council on Foreign Relations seems to have changed the paradigms: the European right has changed almost overnight from the defeated defenders of the national sovereignty against the EU federalism in the foreigngart Donald Trump. Thus the continent is no longer divided into pro- and anti-soua countries, but in pro- and anti-trumpy parties.
For example, unlike the division triggered by Iraq's invasion in 2003, “Eastern Europe is no longer more pro-American than Western Europe due to a more robust society consensus, but because the far-right parties are more robust in the East,” according to the European Council on Foreign Relations. Maybe this is the reason that urges CSAT to draw conclusions without any other arguments regarding Romania's attachment to the United States.
The Supreme Council of Defense of the country has also established today that the tax evasion is major vulnerability, which weakens the ability of institutions to provide quality public services. Then he approved the activity report for the year 2024 of the National Cyber Security Directorate, without any details related to the Russian influences in the last year's election campaign, when Călin Georgescu won the first tour of the presidents without leaving the house, using only social networks and a lot of money.
The first CSAT led by Nicușor Dan suggests a few directions of the future, but everything very vague and without arguments, in the old tradition of the presidential institution.
Sabina Fati – DW
