Romania at the Paris consultations
The interim president of Romania, Ilie Bolojan, took part in the Paris meeting on Ukraine and the security challenges in Europe
Sorin Iordan, 20.02.2025, 14:00
The security of Europe was the topic of a second meeting organised on Wednesday in Paris by the French president Emmanuel Macron, after the emergency one on Monday. This time around, Romania was also present, represented by the interim president Ilie Bolojan, alongside the leaders of Norway, Canada, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, the Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Sweden and Belgium.
The meetings come after the radical change in attitude of the United States of America towards European countries, the Kyiv administration and Moscow.
On the one hand, Donald Trump’s government criticises Europe for not getting more involved in resolving the conflict, calls the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy a dictator for not holding elections on time, and partly blames him for starting the war, even though Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014, with the annexation of the Crimean peninsula.
On the other hand, Washington seems to have softened its tone towards Kremlin, and fears are it might unilaterally negotiate not only a forced peace in Ukraine, but, according to news agencies, also a redistribution of spheres of influence modelled on the infamous 1945 Yalta conference, as a result of which Eastern Europe was ceded to the Soviet Union.
In this context, the interim president of Romania, Ilie Bolojan, said that the security of Ukraine is also the security of Europe and Romania.
Meanwhile, France will increase its support for Romania, said Ilie Bolojan, after bilateral talks with the French leader:
Ilie Bolojan: “We are once again reassured that, just as France has been by Romania’s side in the very important moments of our country’s history, it remains by our side today. We have reconfirmed the strategic partnership with France. We have also reconfirmed the stability of the French military presence in Romania. At the request of our country, this presence will be consolidated in the coming period.”
At the end of the meeting, Bolojan said that Eastern European states are the first to feel the consequences of the war in Ukraine, and he emphasised that, now more than ever, European unity and cooperation with the US within NATO are vital to resolving the conflict.
Ilie Bolojan: “We do not stand by Ukraine out of a humanitarian sentiment alone. This, and the injustice of the war, is only the first reason. But we also do it out of a strategic interest for our own country. And the second important conclusion was that further cooperation between European countries and the US can be the best formula to solve this crisis, so that we not only have a ceasefire, but also have a just peace, so that in the coming years a new conflict does not begin again. And this just peace and equitable peace cannot be made without the participation of Ukraine and the European Union in the closing of these negotiations.”
In turn, the French president said he sees Russia and Vladimir Putin as “an existential threat to Europe.” Both he and the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer have been invited to Washington next week for consultations on peace in Ukraine, President Donald Trump’s national security advisor Mike Waltz announced. (AMP)
