“With the second term won by Donald J. Trump, one could say that ‘everything must change for everything to remain the same’. This is especially true in the area of security and defence, where Romania has a strong dependence on its strategic partner – the U.S.”

The European Union’s (EU) place on the world stage has never been under more scrutiny. With the second Trump administration challenging the post-war global order, the EU’s dependence on the United States (US), particularly in the area of security and defence, has turned from partnership to a possible liability. This picture is mirrored at national level in Romania, where more than a quarter of century of strategic alliance with the US looms large.

How can Romania, and the wider European continent including the EU, address the imminent challenges posed by America’s about-face? What is Europe’s role in the new world? These are the themes explored in TEPSA’s latest book: “The United States and the Future of Europe: Views from the Capitals”, a volume which looks at 40+ national perspectives from across Europe, edited by Michael Kaeding, Johannes Pollak, and Paul Schmidt. How can recent experiences from Romania help us navigate this pan-European debate?

To discuss this question, TEPSA and the European Institute of Romania (EIR) co-organised “The United States and the Future of Europe: Perspectives from Romania”, an online public debate which took on Wednesday 18 June between 10:00-12:00 CEST (i.e., 11:00-13:00 EEST).

Watch the event recording

The event featured welcoming words from Oana-Mihaela Mocanu, Director General of the European Institute of Romania, and TEPSA Secretary-General Jim Cloos. Following this, co-authors presented the Romanian chapter of the book Mihai Sebe and Eliza Vaș (respectively, Head of the European Affairs Department at EIR & Lecturer, University of Bucharest, and Coordinator of the Studies Unit at EIR), before the event moved to an open debate between:

• Alina Bârgăoanu, Professor, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration & President of the Administrative Board, European Institute of Romania;
• Karlis Bukovskis, Director, Latvian Institute of International Affairs (LIIA) & Associate Professor, Riga Stradins University;
• Oana-Antonia Colibășanu, Senior Geopolitical Analyst, Geopolitical Futures & Senior Fellow for Eurasia Program, Foreign Policy Research Institute;
• Ionela Maria Ciolan, Research Officer, Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies;
• Aurelian Mohan, Expert International Affairs and Project Manager, Columbia University.

The event was moderated by Paul Schmidt, Secretary-General, Austrian Society for European Politics (ÖGfE) & co-editor of the book.

This debate brought together leading experts and co-authors of TEPSA’s latest book on the future of Europe to discuss the EU’s stance in the context of a second Trump term in the US.