Romania’s Message to America: We’re Open for Business

Romania’s national security adviser visited Washington, D.C., this week with a message to his American counterparts: We’re open for business.

Ambassador Marius-Gabriel Lazurca spoke with the Daily Signal shortly after arriving in the nation’s capital and expressed optimism about U.S.-Romania relations.

“I’m here to tell my American interlocutors that our strategic relationship has done a lot of good for both parties, but it is time to be more ambitious,” Lazurca said. “It is time to … step up our mutual engagements in critical sectors for our countries.”

Romanian President Nicușor Dan picked Lazurca for the job last November. Since then, he’s made three visits to the United States with a goal of strengthening ties between the two countries.

As the presidential adviser for foreign policy and national security, Lazurca is keeping close tabs on the lingering war between Russia and Ukraine. Romania shares the longest border with Ukraine among its neighbors that are members of NATO or the European Union, Lazurca said.

In the years since Russia’s invasion in 2022, Romania has provided aid to Ukraine and supports “a just and lasting peace.”

“We are going through a very serious escalation phase,” Lazurca said, pointing to increased Russian attacks against Ukraine and the potential consequences for neighboring countries.

“Romania is probably the country that is most exposed to the spillover effects of this war,” he said.

Romania’s proximity to Ukraine is one reason Lazurca said he’s encouraged by President Donald Trump’s efforts to bring the war to an end.

“We support politically very much” Trump’s peace initiatives, Lazurca said. “We would like to see this war stop.”

But he cautioned that simply ending the fighting wouldn’t be enough. He said the ultimate goal should be a sovereign and free Ukraine.

“An unjust peace is not really a peace because it will not last,” Lazurca said. “For that reason, it is important to achieve a ceasefire. That is the first step and only the first step.”

‘President Trump Was Right’

Trump’s approach to NATO earned praise from Lazurca, who said the U.S. president was correct to push European countries to assume greater responsibility for their own security.

“We think in Romania that national security is a national responsibility” and that countries “have to pay more attention to their security,” Lazurca said.

“In this respect, we thought and we still think that President Trump was right when he said that Europe should take greater responsibilities for its own security.”

Lazurca said Romania will devote 3.7% of its gross domestic product to defense and security this year as NATO countries work toward the 5% commitment established at the alliance’s summit in The Hague.

Romania has been a member of NATO since 2004, long enough that Lazurca said at least one generation of Romanians was born knowing no other reality.

Russia’s war against Ukraine, coupled with Trump’s calls for greater burden-sharing, has focused attention on the responsibilities that come with membership.

Romania, he said, is “ready to play a more important role inside NATO along the lines mentioned on many occasions by President Trump.”

Why Romania Looks to America

Romania’s relationship with the United States goes beyond contemporary security concerns.

Lazurca described a country with a deep pro-American sentiment, telling the Daily Signal there is “no anti-U.S. party or constituency in our population.”

That support, he said, gives Romanian leaders room to act decisively when cooperation with the United States is required.

“Romanians expect from their leaders to be aligned with U.S. and to help U.S. whenever this is possible,” Lazurca said.

“This is a mutually beneficial relationship,” he added. “Romanians expect also to get more security, more prosperity, more freedom from U.S.”

Lazurca traces that affinity for America in part to Romania’s experience under communism.

Armed resistance to communism in Romania lasted into the 1960s, he said. Some of those resisting the communist government remained motivated by the belief that help would ultimately come from the United States.

“There was something that kept them, these groups, still … ready to fight,” Lazurca said. “And that was the thought that the Americans were coming.”

Romanians emerged from the communist era as an “anti-communist country,” he said, deeply shaped by their experience with the Soviet Union.

The two nations share values as well as security interests, he said, describing Romania as a Christian country that places importance on family values and is “naturally … conservative in many respects.”

Their relationship, he said, has therefore proved “ideology-proof” and “administration-proof.”

‘We Love to Drill’

Lazurca said Romania wants to translate that history and security partnership into a stronger economic relationship.

He said U.S.-Romanian cooperation has produced significant results in defense and security but hasn’t reached the same level economically.

“It is time,” he said, “to correct … this asymmetry.”

Lazurca identified energy, transportation and logistics, new technologies, artificial intelligence, and defense manufacturing as areas where the two countries could expand their cooperation.

“We align with the most important priorities of this administration in a very organic and natural way,” he said. “We don’t have to make an effort to seem aligned.”

Energy presents one of the most significant opportunities.

Lazurca pointed to Neptune Deep, an offshore natural gas project in the Black Sea, which he said could help Romania and Europe reduce their reliance on Russian gas.

“Romania is open for business,” he said. “It may look like a joke, but it’s not really a joke. We love to drill.”

Lazurca made the case that Romania can be the kind of European partner the Trump administration has asked for: one willing to invest more in its own defense while maintaining a close relationship with the United States and opening new opportunities for economic cooperation.

Moldova Faces Russian Pressure

The war in neighboring Ukraine isn’t Romania’s only concern about Russian influence in the region.

Lazurca, who previously served as Romania’s ambassador to Moldova, pointed to the country as another target of Russian pressure.

“With the exception, of course, of Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova is the country that suffers most from the consequences of the war,” he said, arguing that Moldova deserves greater political attention and assistance.

Lazurca pointed specifically to Transnistria, the breakaway region of Moldova, as an example of Russian tactics predating the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Romania has sought to help Moldova, Lazurca said, noting the two countries share language and history.

The security challenges facing Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania reinforce the importance of a strong relationship with Washington, Lazurca said. They also underscore his argument that Europeans must do more themselves.

His message to the United States is that Romania is prepared to do both.

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