On Wednesday, 18th of June, 2025, the European Institute of Romania (EIR) and the Trans European Policy Studies Association (TEPSA) organized the event The United States and the Future of Europe. Perspectives from Romania, following the launch of the TEPSA collective volume: “The United States and the Future of Europe: Views from capitals”. During the online debate, the chapter about Romania, which was authored by Mihai Sebe, Head of the European Affairs Department and Eliza Vaș, Coordinator of the Studies Unit (European Institute of Romania), was presented. The welcoming remarks were shared by Oana-Mihaela Mocanu, Director General of EIR and Jim Cloos, Secretary General of TEPSA.
The second part of the debate was dedicated to a panel discussion on the topic of transatlantic relations, The experts invited on this occasion: Alina Bârgăoanu, professor, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, President of the Administrative Board, European Institute of Romania, Karlis Bukovskis, director of the Latvian Institute of International Affairs and associate professor at Riga Stradins University, Latvia, Oana – Antonia Colibășanu, senior geopolitical analyst – Geopolitical Futures, Ionela-Maria Ciolan, research officer, Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies, Belgium and Aurelian Mohan, international affairs expert, project manager at Columbia University. The event was moderated by Paul Schmidt, Secretary General, Austrian Society for European Policy, Vienna, Austria.
Some of the ideas mentioned during the debate are:
- The European Union (EU) must find a balance between its values and interests regarding the transatlantic relationship. In this regard, the EU should strengthen its strategic autonomy while maintaining cooperation with the US.
- We need to recognize the fluid and multidimensional nature of the 21st century geopolitically. States compete and cooperate simultaneously, depending on the topics and areas, which will lead over time to the creation of modular cooperation formats, focused only on certain subjects.
- The partnership between the US and the EU must be built on shared values and anchored in international law. In this way, the resilience of the transatlantic relationship can be reinforced, which is an essential element for global security and stability and for both actors to be able to respond to emerging challenges.
- The EU and US societies have changed and, therefore, their interests and needs have been reprioritized. Consequently, a debate and clarification regarding the interests of the those taking part in the evolution and dynamics of the transatlantic relationship would be necessary.
- The world as we know it is in a process of dismantling, which will make it more volatile meaning that we might witness significant reorientations in terms of foreign policy. In the future, it may become more difficult to discuss a common position on how to organize global affairs.
- Europeans are taking a more active and dynamic role in ensuring their own defence, and many actions have been directed towards this end recently. However, building a European defence is set to be a long-term process.
