Romania's acting President Ilie Bolojan was welcomed Wednesday afternoon by French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace for bilateral talks.
Ilie Bolojan left for Paris on Wednesday morning to participate in the informal meeting organized by the president of the French Republic on the situation in Ukraine and the security challenges in Europe.
Romania's acting president is accompanied by presidential advisor on European affairs Luminita Odobescu.
On Monday, leaders from Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark, along with the leadership of the European Union and NATO's Secretary General met in Paris in an emergency meeting on Ukraine at the invitation of President Macron, in the context of the peace initiatives launched by the new American administration. According to EU officials, some countries were unhappy that the meeting was only for certain leaders and not a summit of the entire European Union.
The Romanian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that the Paris meeting was initiated by the French president in a format known as Weimar Plus, and it included the President of the European Council, the President of the European Commission, NATO's Secretary General and a number of heads of state and government of European countries that are major supporters of Ukraine.
"Romania, in its dual capacity as the European neighbor with the longest border with Ukraine and the country that has consistently and from the very beginning offered multidimensional, humanitarian, economic and military support to Ukraine, is directly interested that the collective European and Euro-Atlantic support for Ukraine continues as a response to the brutal and illegal war of aggression waged by the Russian Federation. This was clearly conveyed to the participants, primarily to France's President Emmanuel Macron, via diplomatic avenues," the Foreign Ministry said in a release, also emphasizing that Romania was represented at the meeting through Poland, which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency.
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