Romanian President Nicusor Dan was stranded in the French capital following a meeting with Ukraine’s allies on Tuesday due to a cold snap which has caused widespread flight and travel disruptions in France.
The Romanian leader was initially scheduled to leave Tuesday evening, but the runway was snowed under combined with high winds, a situation that remained unchanged on Wednesday morning as well, and his departure was disrupted again.
“Last night we decided not to leave because we would have arrived at 3-4 in the night.. It’s an unusual situation for France, as it usually doesn’t snow here, and now it snowed, the runway has to be cleaned,” he said after he disembarked a Spartan military aircraft that he had flown to Paris with.
He attended the ‘Coalition of the Willing’ meeting where leaders from 35 countries including and US representatives agreed on security guarantees for Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire with Russia, including plans to deploy a multinational military force on the ground.
But his return was delayed due to heavy snow and high winds. Some 140 flights were cancelled at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports on Wednesday morning because of snowfall and fierce cold, the French transport minister said.
Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot told CNews television he was “hoping the situation returns to normal this afternoon.”
It wasn’t Dan’s first travel hitch during a foreign visit. Due to a technical problem with the Spartan aircraft, he was forced to stay overnight in Germany, he said without mentioning when that happened.
Journalists asked him whether it was inconvenient not to have a presidential plane.
“At some point we have to have a presidential plane and not only for the president, but also for the ministers who go on foreign visits, because this plane does much more than a normal plane,” he said.
However, due to budget constraints he said there was no question a presidential aircraft being purchased in 2026.
Asked if he still remembered heavy snow when he studied in France, he said that it had snowed three times in his six years there.
Dan is no stranger to heavy snow as he comes from the mountain town of Făgăraş which is near Romania’s highest mountain.
Local authorities in France have issued an orange code for heavy snowfall and sleet for January 7.
There were significant disruptions to urban and interurban road transport, rail and air traffic are expected.
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