NATO – The Dutch Premier Mark Rutte is officially the future NATO Secretary General. The 57 year-old politician has benefitted from support from all 32 representatives of the North Atlantic Council, the alliance’s main decision-making body and his mandate is to kick off on October 1st. Rutte will replace the Norwegian chief Jens Stoltenberg and is known for his critical position against Russia and for supporting Ukraine in terms of its NATO and EU accession. The Netherlands is supporting Ukraine also militarily, including with F-16 jet fighters, which have been given the permission to strike Russian targets. Besides the war in Ukraine and the tense international political background, Rutte will have the task of negotiating with a possible US administration led by Donald Trump, if the latter wins the upcoming election where he runs against the incumbent president Joe Biden.
SUMMIT EU – leaders are convening today in Brussels in the company of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky for talks on providing weapons to Ukraine and the latest developments in the war with Russia. This has been the second summit after the European Parliament elections early this month and the 27 heads of state and government will continue talks on distributing positions in the main European institutions. Ursula von der Leyen, from the European People’s Party, is favourite for the position of the head of the European Commission, while the former Portuguese premier Antonio Costa, from the Socialists, stands chances to head the European Council. The position of the president of the European Parliament will be shared by the EPP and the Socialists with the first two years and a half held by incumbent president Roberta Metsola from the EPP. The three main political groups are convening separately to decide their position on the final negotiation in the Council. Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis will be attending the EPP meeting while the country’s Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu the Socialists. Also high on the agenda there is the military aid for Ukraine, which has been blocked by Hungary, which is also blocking the distribution by Kyiv of the profits from the frozen Russian assets. The summit also marks the end of the Belgian EU presidency, which will be taken over by Budapest for the next six months.
VISIT – The head of the Romanian diplomacy Luminita Odobescu on Wednesday held talks In Warsaw with her Polish counterpart Radoslaw Sikorski on the sidelines of the trilateral meeting Romania-Poland-Turkey. Minister Odobescu has hailed the dynamic and complex character of the Romanian-Polish dialogue, assumed in the Strategic Bilateral Partnership and reflected in a busy agenda of political-diplomatic contacts and an excellent cooperation in the fields of security and economy as well as in sectoral areas. She also expressed the interest for the ongoing capitalization of the investment opportunities offered by the two states as well as in deepening cooperation in fields of mutual interest such as infrastructure, energy, agriculture and education. The Romanian minister has also hailed the effective cooperation at the EU and NATO levels as well as in regional formats. Regarding Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, the Romanian minister reiterated the need for the ongoing multidimensional support, including the military one as well as the importance of reconstructing the country’s infrastructure heavily affected by the war.
