On April 17, the Atlantic Council hosted Ambassador Mircea Geoană, Romania’s former foreign minister and ambassador to the United States, for a strategy session about the future of the US-European relationship in an era of budget austerity and emerging security challenges. 

Ambassador Geoană stressed the importance of the transatlantic relationship in the areas of economics, culture, and security, outlining that the US-European bond is dependent upon more than just NATO. The discussion featured transatlantic relations experts and touched upon progress on the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the impending free trade agreement between the United States and Europe, and a necessity for Europe to live up to its global security responsibilities.

Ambassador Geoană is a Romanian senator who served as president of the upper chamber of the Romanian Parliament, the Senate, from 2008 until 2011. From 2005 until 2010, he was the head of the Partidul Social Democrat (PSD, Social Democratic Party), one of Romania’s largest parties, and was also the presidential candidate of the party in the 2009 presidential election. Previously, he served as foreign minister of Romania, from 2000 to 2004, and as Romania’s ambassador to the United States from 1996 to 2000.