The solution is already on the president’s table
- On behalf of Romania, it is my privilege to reaffirm today, in Kyiv, our country’s firm support for Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders and territorial integrity, as well as our commitment to long-term stability.”
- “A secure Europe and a stable global order are impossible without a fully sovereign and secure Ukraine. Standing with Ukraine in its fight for its history, sovereignty and future, we express our solidarity with the sovereignty of all our nations.”
- “The 21st package of sanctions against Russia against the background of the war in Ukraine has now been discussed, to be given by the European Union. Such as Romania, out of the blue, to have a government in which some of the ministers oppose the package of sanctions for Russia. Romania has many arrears, but at least in European formats, in NATO formats, there is confidence that Romania keeps the direction and this is exactly what I would not want us to lose. I mean, it would be dramatic to lose him.”
The above quotes are taken from statements made in recent days by President Nicușor Dan.
That the head of state represents Romania’s interests is unequivocal and he argues them eloquently.
The president has regularly issued similar messages in the past year since he was elected in May 2025. He has played an important role in counterbalancing the pro-Russian, anti-Ukrainian, anti-EU and anti-NATO narratives that fill the Romanian public space. This is probably his greatest merit, as head of state, and for this he deserves recognition and to be supported and encouraged.
Unfortunately, however, a country’s foreign policy, no matter how inspired in substance and convincing it sounds, is not an isolated element nor is it unaffected by the waves and storms of domestic politics. On the contrary: foreign policy can only do as much as domestic policy allows.
From this point of view, Nicușor Dan’s drama comes from the strident contrast between his moral and strategic clarity on foreign policy and his lack of similar clarity domestically.
A Fifth Column has been engaged for some time in sabotaging President Dan’s clear direction.
But the paradox is that the greatest danger to Nicușor Dan’s foreign policy comes from the president himself.
How can this be?
- Allowing the overthrow of a government with which the president was compatible on foreign policy and at the same time of a government that, with the necessary torments, could nevertheless ensure the need for stability, predictability and reforms within the country.
- Allowing the political crisis, once triggered, to prolong itself for an unacceptably long period, and to degenerate on so many other levels to the point where it seems to have totally gotten out of control.
- Finally, by facilitating, through what it did in points 1 and 2, the spectacular affirmation, with potentially dramatic consequences, of the anti-European, anti-Western and anti-Ukrainian forces, domestically.
Today, the reality is that, as intensely and clearly as the president promotes a deepened relationship with Ukraine, with the EU, with the US and with NATO, he also manages to go in the opposite direction and weaken Romania’s capacity of keeping on this ambitious course.
At least for the sake of the visible effort he has made in foreign policy that Romania really needs, Nicușor Dan should do the only thing that can save the future: nominate a prime minister.
And to nominate that person from one of the political parties, a nomination that leaves no room for doubt regarding their commitment to reforms and to a foreign policy in the image and likeness of the one desired by the president himself.
The mission shouldn’t be that hard. There are already two proposals on the president’s table – Sorin Grindeanu and Siegfried Mureșan.
Nicușor Dan only has to take Grindeanu out of the calculation – a name with little or no credibility even within his own party, a name whose credibility has been compromised externally, especially after the blackmail done at the expense of the PNRR.
