The European Union and the Eastern Flank
While in Bucharest, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has reiterated Romania’s strategic role on NATO’s Eastern Flank
Daniela Budu, 02.09.2025, 14:00
The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, was in Romania on Monday, as part of a tour designed to highlight the EU’s support for the member countries facing a series of challenges due to their geographical location close to Russia and Belarus. The EU high official met Romania’s President Nicusor Dan at the Mihail Kogalniceanu military base in the county of Constanta, south-eastern Romania. The two officials visited the King Ferdinand frigate, Air Base 57 and the military port of Constanta, strategic objectives for the regional security. Talks focused on the military dimension of the EU policy, the development of the European arms industry and the strengthening of the bloc’s defence and deterrence posture. Ursula von der Leyen has hailed Romania’s involvement in maintaining security on the Eastern Flank. “You keep Europe safe in the air and waters of the Black Sea. And more than ever Romania is a key asset for European security and a key partner of NATO’s eastern flank”.
Furthermore, she has mentioned the fact that Bucharest foiled several disinformation and manipulation attempts.
Ursula von der Leyen: ”Over the past months Romania has shown impressive resilience of its democracy and its institutions. You have successfully countered attempts of disinformation and manipulation. You are very strong, ironclad and reliable supporters of Ukraine and Moldova. You resist intimidations, intimidations that are usually part of Moscow’s playbook, but this only makes our resilience stronger. And we know that we need – you mentioned also the security situation – a surge in defence investment. And for that now we have the financing, we have to work on the implementation of the financing, and of course we have to secure the long-term sustainability.”
Ursula von der Leyen has also recollected the defence package endorsed at community level of 800 billion Euros by 2030, which includes the 150-billion-Euro SAFE programme, with 19 countries enlisted, including Romania.
On the other hand, the European leader hailed Romania’s efforts to curb the budget deficit. European solidarity is important in this complicated period with pressure coming from the Russian Federation, says President Nicusor Dan.
He recalls that in 2027 Romania will start extracting gas from the Black Sea, which will lead to the country’s energy security.
Nicuşor Dan:” We are at the Black Sea, which is extremely important for Romania and for Europe. Starting 2027, Romania will begin extracting gas and that will contribute to the energy security of Romania and Europe. We are glad that the European Union has endorsed, upon Romania’s proposal, a strategy for the Black Sea. And we wish for this European security hub, the strategy refers to, to be located in Romania, at Constanta at the Black Sea.”
The importance of Romania’s strategic role as the main logistic hub for supporting the reconstruction efforts of the neighbouring Ukraine has also been mentioned during the talks between the two high officials.
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