The European Council Meeting in Brussels
Romanian President Nicuşor Dan attended his first European Council meeting in Brussels, where he gave assurances that the new government in Bucharest would reduce the budget deficit and reconfirmed Romania’s support for Moldova's accession to the EU
Sorin Iordan, 27.06.2025, 13:58
Shortly after attending the NATO Summit in The Hague, Romanian President Nicuşor Dan joined other European Union leaders gathered at the Council in Brussels. The president’s agenda included both pressing economic issues for Bucharest, such as the urgent reduction of the budget deficit, an area in which Romania holds an unwanted first place in the EU, as well as foreign policy and security issues.
On the economic front, President Dan discussed Romania’s plan to reduce its deficit with the presidents of the European Council and the European Commission, Antonio Costa and Ursula von der Leyen, respectively, as well as the delays in projects financed through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. He told them that Romania wanted to gain Brussels’ trust in the seriousness of the new Romanian executive, which was trying to focus first on cutting waste and government spending and then on raising taxes.
The Romanian president has announced that the government will present the first set of measures in this regard on 8 July, and as Romania moves forward with the implementation of the decisions, it will consult regularly with the Commission and the Council on any adjustments. For their part, the European institutions will carry out regular checks to ensure that the deficit is falling in line with commitments. With regard to the common topics of discussion and those that were at the top of the European Council’s agenda, namely the security of the continent, the development of the European defence industry, support for Ukraine and EU enlargement, Romania proposed two topics for debate: the Black Sea strategy and maintaining the Union’s support for the Republic of Moldova.
In the joint statement issued at the end of the summit, the member states decided to extend sanctions against Russia for six months as a means of putting pressure on the Kremlin and reiterated their support for Ukraine and their willingness to continue Ukraine and Moldova’s European path. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the EU had recently allocated another billion euros to the Ukrainian defence industry, money that came from selling off Russian assets that were seized, and that it was ready to deliver the remaining 11 billion euros as agreed by the G7.
The Romanian president has estimated that, in 3-4 weeks, Bucharest could send its procurement plans to benefit from the European armament programme and welcomed the inclusion of the Republic of Moldova on the summit agenda, at Romania’s proposal. Dan has pointed out that the reforms that Chisinau has made in its European journey, the support for opening the cluster on fundamental issues, and the EU-Republic of Moldova summit, which will take place on 4 July in the Moldovan capital, were mentioned. According to the Romanian president, the event in Chisinau is proof of the member states’ willingness to continue the process of EU accession for the state on the left bank of the Prut River.
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