🇷🇴🇵🇱My highlights&takeaways from the Warsaw Security Forum I had the honour to attend this week:

▶️ Discreetly, but resolutely, Europe today seems to be firmer about a future post-2024 security architecture (especially: after the US presidential elections in November). It is heartening that we have heard not desperate cries for help, but working scenarios prepared for whoever comes to the White House in the winter, and that the European Union is ready to take on a more constructive role in defence (not in the form of an illusory „EU army”, but in the form of a more robust European defense pillar in NATO). This new approach cannot only be based on new titles and functions, such as the Commissioner for Defence & Space at the EU level, but must also include concrete investments in our defence industrial base, more&wiser spending, military mobility, and even more agile formats of working together inside the EU for regional specialization;

⚡️While we can all agree on the importance of ❗️enlargement of the Euro-Atlantic institutions, we are so far away from an actual roadmap. The agglomeration of the geopolitical agenda implied that issues such as the degrading relations between Serbia and Kosovo are too easily overlooked by European politicians. Even in the absence of the plan, it is optimistic that, in the voice of new generation leaders such as Benjamin Haddad (France’s new Minister-delegate for Europe), enlargement is still a topic of concern. Let’s just hope that France will have the resources, not just the ideational diplomacy, to mobilize within the EU a new enlargement project that goes beyond good intentions.

🇷🇴Romania has a new Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but it is not the one you think. After attending most of the panels, I can firmly say that our strongest MFA right now is our Ministry of Energy, lead by Sebastian Burduja. Our strong energy diplomacy and commitment to a sound and secure approach towards the green transition definitely make us leaders in the CEE, and it is through a marketplace of ideas such as the #WSF2024 that you can see how our entrepreneurial approach to nuclear energy is valued by our like-minded partners. The SMRs that will go online in 2029 at Doicești (a product of the Romanian-American strategic partnership) clearly show that added value.

⤵️💢 And a rather disappointing finding when it comes to the speeches of politicians in the region: too few remarks about the Three Seas Initiative, which is doomed to become a dormant format right before its 10th year anniversary. It is sad, because the interdependence between connectivity and security is clearly out there, and we shall not wait for the U.S. to advocate for this on our behalf!

💫I am grateful for the support of the Casimir Pulaski Foundation & German Marshall Fund of the United States to participate in this year’s forum, as part of the Empowering Young Women Experts in Regional Security programme, lead by the wonderful Jessica Maksimov!