Romanian Foreign Minister backs Trump's push to fully wean EU off Russian energy

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Romanian Foreign Minister backs Trump's push to fully wean EU off Russian energy  Neighbouring Slovakia and Hungary are resisting pressure from the Trump administration to suspend their purchases of Russian energy products.  READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/10/17/romanian-foreign-minister-backs-trumps-push-to-fully-wean-eu-off-russian-energy  Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages

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00:00My guest today is Romanian Foreign Minister Oana Tsoiu.

00:12Romania shares the EU's longest land border with Ukraine

00:15and is in the crossfire of Moscow's hybrid war.

00:19Minister Tsoiu came into the role in June this year

00:22after a period of turbulence for Romania's democracy

00:25and amid escalating tensions between Europe and Russia.

00:30Minister Tsoiu, thank you so much for joining us. Welcome to the show.

00:32Thank you for having us.

00:34So I'd like to start with security and defence

00:36because Romania has experienced several instances of drones violating its airspace,

00:41most recently in early September.

00:44How do you assess the scale of this threat to Romania's security?

00:49We're a country that is safe because we have our own capacity to defend

00:54but also because we have the allied forces present in Romania.

00:58But also we have been here together with our Ministry of Defence,

01:01Mr. Yunus Mostanu.

01:03On his side, alongside the other ministries and in the NATO format,

01:07they are working on the preparedness and the increase of our military capacity.

01:12On our side, even in events from the civil society,

01:17as has been the one from the Friends of Europe and Jacques Delors Foundation recently,

01:21we're working on the societal resilience.

01:23What do I mean by that is that even if the general audience has typically noticed

01:29the actual incursion into our airspace and other countries as well by the Russian drones,

01:36those have always been together with misinformation campaigns,

01:40with the tests that Russia has put on our democracy, on our information spaces,

01:45to also try to change the narrative around those incursions.

01:48We'll get to that issue of societal threat that you mentioned,

01:54but on the military side, can you give us a sense of whether Romania is actually prepared

01:59to shoot down these intruding drones and aircrafts if they're considered a real threat?

02:05Yes, we are prepared.

02:07We have changed our laws recently,

02:09so we allow for the pilots of the planes that are following the drones to shoot,

02:15if that is the case.

02:17Also, we have changed the legislation,

02:19so we allow for different air defense systems to be able to also,

02:23in the case it is needed, to shoot them down.

02:25It has actually been the case with the recent drone incursion

02:28that the Minister of Defense has given the approval to shoot down the drones.

02:32It is always a matter, though, of assessing the risk,

02:36if whether the actual shooting down of the drone

02:38doesn't create more risk on the ground than the potential risk from the drone itself.

02:43But we do have the capacity, the political will and decision.

02:46If we can contribute to diminish the risks that are created on Ukrainian territory,

02:52we're going to contribute to that as well,

02:54making sure that if they enter our territory,

02:57we are ready to use our capacity to take them down.

03:01Because you are on the front line,

03:02you have the EU's longest land border with Ukraine.

03:05Your government has also said it wants to partner with Ukraine

03:07to build more drones, defensive drones.

03:10Can you give us more information about the scale of that partnership?

03:14When could these drones be operational?

03:16So we have had conversation at the defense level,

03:18but also at the foreign affairs level and governmental level,

03:21to create common projects,

03:24but also to create the needed laws and needed approvals,

03:28so that the private sphere also advances faster in that direction.

03:33For example, we already have in the private industries projects

03:36that are Romanian-Ukrainian,

03:38in the sense that they also test the drones commonly,

03:43using their common knowledge,

03:45and they have also recently acquired investments from the United States.

03:49We want to continue with even more projects,

03:52even from the public sphere,

03:54and to be able to have that not just for our own needs

03:57in terms of military procurement and capacity,

04:01but also to create this offering together with combat-tested know-how

04:07that the Ukrainians now have,

04:09in order to have that offering for other states that might need them.

04:13So you are talking about the potential to use these

04:15to protect the eastern flank beyond Romania?

04:18Yes, we are assessing now potential projects

04:21that do not only produce for our own needs,

04:24but can also create an offering for other countries

04:27that want to increase their capacity.

04:30Because when we look at the defence priority,

04:33it is clearly that now we have a commitment

04:35at the NATO side, but also at the European level side,

04:39to increase our budgets, to be able to meet that ambition.

04:42You mentioned NATO commitment, EU commitments.

04:45The commitments are certainly there.

04:46We have various initiatives now

04:47in order to protect the eastern flank,

04:50the so-called drone wall.

04:51The EU has just said that it thinks

04:53that could be fully functional by 2027.

04:56Do you agree with that assessment?

04:58We agree with that assessment,

05:00and we believe time is of the essence.

05:02Even when we look at the procurements from now on,

05:06time is going to be an essential element.

05:07And we have seen that in many other countries,

05:10that it is not just about the budget or the capacity

05:13or even the strategic partnerships between countries,

05:16but it has increasingly become a conversation

05:19that looks at the time element more.

05:22Because obviously we feel the risk more present

05:25than we have done before Russia has started

05:28this unprovoked aggression towards Ukraine.

05:31You also met with the US Secretary of State,

05:34Marco Rubio, just recently.

05:37On Ukraine, what was your message to him

05:39and his administration?

05:41We have talked about our common ambition

05:43to help to have a peace deal in Ukraine as well,

05:49but also about our reluctance

05:50in terms of what we see coming from Russia.

05:54We do not see the proper action gestures

05:56or decisions in that direction.

05:58That is why we are having a continuous conversation

06:01on the increase of pressure.

06:03However, we agree in Romania,

06:06and I have mentioned this to Secretary of State Marco Rubio as well,

06:09that the ambition that President Trump has put forward,

06:12the request actually to members of the European Union

06:15to cut off from energy sources from Russia

06:18that generate profit that then is used to fund the war,

06:22is the proper decision.

06:24Romania has taken that decision for a while now.

06:26Some of the other countries in the region, though,

06:29are not aligned with you on this.

06:31They want to continue buying Russian gas.

06:35Do you think President Trump can put pressure on them

06:39to change their minds?

06:40Well, I think President Trump has shown

06:42that he is willing to use the power of the United States

06:45and the power of his messages to create pressure

06:48where he considers that is the case.

06:51I also think that what is needed is to have alternatives

06:54in the sense that it is needed in our continent

06:58to have energy sources that are clean,

07:01that are reliable and that are at the right pricing

07:04to allow for that decoupling to happen.

07:09We have seen, for example, energy be used as a war weapon

07:12by Russia towards Moldova, for example,

07:16and it has been very important that together with Moldova

07:18and Ukraine, with help from the European Commission,

07:22we've managed to mitigate that very fast.

07:24We'll come on to the issue of Moldova in just a bit.

07:27But you mentioned earlier on these societal threats in Romania

07:31and over the past year, especially since that presidential runoff

07:35was cancelled back in December,

07:37there's been a lot of scrutiny on democracy in Romania.

07:40How are you recovering from this?

07:42How are you restoring trust not only in public institutions

07:45but also in Romania's pro-Western path?

07:49So Romania has always had a pro-Western path,

07:53a pro-European path for many years now

07:55and this has always been cleared by every Euro barometer,

07:58every research that has been done.

08:00In the same time, we have seen our elections

08:02being threatened by foreign interference

08:05and by instruments that do not align

08:08with the principle of democracy

08:10and democratic options and votes.

08:13So some of the things that have happened since then

08:16is that our president, Iko Shordan,

08:18has presented the full report of the informations

08:21that were gathered by the Romanian institution at that point

08:24and he presented that report to the European leaders

08:27but he also decided to make that public.

08:30They will continue to share the resources that they have

08:32and the lessons learned.

08:34And this is important because those threats do not disappear

08:38even if we have won in Romania,

08:40in Moldova the pro-European path has won spectacularly,

08:44I would say.

08:45We believe and we expect that the interferences will continue

08:49in the sense that we see the same type of intentions

08:53in terms of malign narratives.

08:56So it is very important that we defend ourselves

08:59not just at the country level but at the European Union level

09:02and that we support countries that want to join

09:05the European Union in the same process.

09:07You mentioned Moldova, I did want to ask you

09:09and you mentioned the spectacular, you said victory

09:11for Maya Sander, the president's pro-EU past party.

09:15Now, there is a sense of frustration in some countries

09:18that the EU accession process is not going quick enough.

09:21Is it time to decouple Moldova's bid from Ukraine's

09:25which is being blocked by Viktor Orban and Hungary?

09:27It's time to de-block Ukraine as well.

09:30I think that is very important now.

09:32Now, we need to focus on the merit-based approach

09:34which practically essentially means that each country

09:37by its own merit needs to be recognized.

09:41And in that case, Moldova but Ukraine as well

09:43are way more ahead than where the European Union

09:47collectively acknowledges it in the sense where you need to have

09:50not just cluster one open but the rest of the clusters as well can be open.

09:55And we need to not forget about the Western Balkans.

09:58And why do I mean that?

09:59It's because I've met today Montenegro, Albania.

10:02They have done spectacular work.

10:04And this is also a momentum for them.

10:07But if I may, it's a merit-based process and you said it,

10:10but it's still being held back by political will of Viktor Orban

10:13who wants to block Ukraine's accession.

10:15So shouldn't it be the case that for Moldova to be able to progress

10:18that it needs to be decoupled from being coupled with Ukraine in this process?

10:23Well, I think what we need to do is to make sure also internally

10:26that we have the proper decision-making reforms

10:29because it is clearly not just the merit of Moldova,

10:32the merit of Ukraine, Albania, Montenegro and so on, we can go on.

10:36But it is clearly a problem that we have for ourselves

10:39if the will of 26 countries is blocked irresponsibly just by one single vote.

10:45And we need to do the proper reforms

10:47but also fully use the current frame that we have to move forward.

10:50So you agree with European Council President Kostya's proposal

10:54to change the rule so that it's not unanimity

10:57but a qualified majority to open the next stage?

10:59We're going to have the Council soon

11:02and the final decision is going to come of that.

11:04But yes, Romania thinks we need to move faster

11:06and we need to make sure we do not block our common decisions.

11:10So you support changing from unanimity on this issue?

11:13We're going to have our president present at the Council with the position

11:17but Romania's stance is very clear towards de-blocking both Moldova and Ukraine.

11:22And you would be willing to do that through changing the rules on unanimity?

11:26As I was saying, the president is going to be present at the Council

11:29and the final decision is going to come out of that.

11:32But Romania's position so far is to make sure that we de-block both Moldova and Ukraine.

11:37And if that is not possible, we're having a conversation

11:40that is not separate from the conversation we're having with Ukraine.

11:44We need to have the acceptance, the approval and the support of everyone

11:49that is on board to be able to move further.

11:52I want to show you. Thank you so much.

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