Romania’s President Nicusor Dan was assigned a plum position in the group photo at his first major international meeting where he mingled with the Western world’s top leaders.
The new Romanian president stood behind US President Donald Trump and in front of NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte president, and just behind the hosts King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands.
The NATO summit kicked off Tuesday evening with a gala dinner hosted by the Dutch royals at the Huis ten Bosch royal palace.
Trump was flanked by King Willem-Alexander and Turkish autocrat President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who Trump shook hands with. French leader Emmanuel Macron was allocated a spot in the front row, while British Prime Minister Keir Starmer stood in the fourth row.
During the photo opp, Nicusor Dan could been seen smiling, as did the Dutch king and Rutte. Donald Trump also flashed a smile at one point.
King Willem-Alexander turned to the Romanian president and exchanged a few words as Trump looked on and gently tapped the Dutch monarch on the arm, and made a brief comment.
The Dutch monarch continued to talk to the Romanian President as Trump followed them into the palace next to Queen Maxima.
Worth noting is that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban was placed in the back row, next to the Albanian Prime Minister. European Union Ursula von der Leyen and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky were placed farther along the second row.
The main session on Wednesday is set to last only two and a half hours, with a brief final statement expected to endorse a spending pledge of 3.5% of GDP on defense and a further 1.5% on “defense-related expenditure”.
The NATO secretary general told his European colleagues to stop worrying about the US commitment to the Western alliance and focus on investing on defense and supporting Ukraine.
