Nicu Popescu
OR
Popescu in 2021
Deputy Prime Minister of Moldova
Assumed office
6 August 2021
Serving with
PresidentMaia Sandu
Prime MinisterNatalia Gavrilița
Dorin Recean
Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration
Assumed office
6 August 2021
PresidentMaia Sandu
Prime MinisterNatalia Gavrilița
Dorin Recean
Preceded byAureliu Ciocoi
In office
11 June 2019 – 14 November 2019
PresidentIgor Dodon
Prime MinisterMaia Sandu
Preceded byTudor Ulianovschi
Succeeded byAureliu Ciocoi
Personal details
Born (1981-04-25) 25 April 1981
Chișinău, Moldavian SSR, Soviet Union
Political partyIndependent
Alma materMoscow State Institute of International Relations (BA)
Central European University (MA, PhD)
Professionauthor, diplomat
Websitehttp://www.nicupopescu.eu

Nicolae "Nicu" Popescu (born 25 April 1981) is a Moldovan author and diplomat serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of Moldova since 6 August 2021 in the Gavrilita and then Recean cabinets. He was also Moldova's Foreign Minister in the period of 11 June - 14 November 2019 in the Sandu Cabinet.[1][2] Until his appointment, he was the director of the Wider Europe programme of the European Council on Foreign Relations[3] and visiting professor at Sciences Po-Paris.[4]

Biography

Popescu graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in 2002, and continued his studies at the Central European University in Budapest, where he obtained both an MA and a PhD degree in International Relations.[5]

Federica Mogherini and Nicu Popescu

Think-tank researcher (2005-2019)

From 2005 to 2007, he was a researcher at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) in Brussels, Belgium. For two terms between 2007 and 2009 and 2011–2012, he was head of program and senior researcher at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) office in London.[6] In 2010 and 2012–2013, he was foreign policy advisor to the Prime Minister of Moldova (then Vlad Filat). In that post he dealt, among other things, with the EU-Moldova visa-liberalization process and Moldova's accession to the European Common Aviation Area. Between 2013 and 2018, he worked as a senior analyst at the European Union Institute for Security Studies, the EU's official foreign policy think tank.[7][8][9]

Popescu with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in April 2022

He has published three books and over 60 academic or policy publications. His articles appeared in the Financial Times, New York Times, the Guardian, Foreign Policy, Le Monde, Le Soir, and Euractiv, and he had a blog on the EUobserver.[10]

Minister of Foreign Affairs (June-November 2019; August 2021-present )

In the early weeks of his first term in office while the Sandu Cabinet exercised power, he called for the accession of Moldova to the European Union. Among his key priorities were: the creation of joint infrastructure projects with Romania and the rest of the EU. He sought to accelerate the building of a new gas pipeline connecting Moldova to Romania, the abolition of roaming costs with Romania and the rest of the EU, and the building of new bridges to Romania.

Popescu served from August 2021 in the Gavrilița Cabinet and its successor, the Recean Cabinet.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, under the leadership of Nicu Popescu, condemned from the first hours the war started by the Russian Federation against Ukraine. Since February 2022, Popescu has played a crucial role in managing various crises resulting from the war in Ukraine, including the refugee and energy crises.

Under his mandate, on June 23, 2022, the Republic of Moldova obtained the status of a candidate country for EU accession. He also managed to boost security and defence cooperation with EU and NATO. Moreover, he successfully enhanced security and defense cooperation with the EU and NATO, leading to the establishment of European Union Partnership Mission Moldova in May 2023. Additionally, Moldova gained access to the European Peace Facility, helping to modernise Moldova's national army.

Through collaborative diplomatic efforts with his former Romanian counterpart, Bogdan Aurescu, Popescu played a pivotal role in eliminating roaming charges between the Republic of Moldova and Romania. Subsequently, through diplomatic negotiations with the EU, it was mutually agreed to gradually eliminate roaming tariffs with the EU member states, commencing from January 1, 2024.

Nicu Popescu actively contributed to the organisation of the second edition of the European Political Community Summit, which took place in Moldova on June 1, 2023.

Recognising his expertise and accomplishments, on June 7, 2023, Nicu Popescu was invited to join the esteemed Council of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) by its co-presidents, solidifying his influential position within this prominent think-tank.

Family

Popescu is married and has two children. Besides his native Romanian language, he is fluent in English, Russian and French.

Bibliography

Books:

Selected Policy Papers

  • Hacks, Leaks and Disruption – Russian Cyber Strategies, EUISS Chaillot Paper 148, Paris 2018.
  • Russia's Return to the Middle East: Building Sandcastles? co-editor, EUISS Chaillot Paper, Paris, 2018.
  • Third Powers in Europe's East, co-editor, EUISS Chaillot Paper, Paris, 2018.
  • China and Russia: an Eastern Partnership in the making?; co-author, EUISS Chaillot Paper 140, Paris, December 2016.
  • The EU neighbours in 1995–2015: shades of grey, cu-authored with Florence Gaub, EUISS Chaillot Paper, December 2015.
  • Eurasian Union: the real, the imaginary and the likely, Chaillot Paper 132, September 2014, EUISS.
  • Dealing with a post-BRIC Russia, ECFR Policy report, November 2011, co-authored with Ben Judah and Jana Kobzova.
  • The Limits of Enlargement-lite: European and Russian Power in the Troubled Neighbourhood’, ECFR Policy Report, June 2009.
  • A Power Audit of EU-Russia Relations’, co-authored with Mark Leonard, Policy Paper 1, European Council on Foreign Relations, November 2007.
  • EU and the Eastern Neighbourhood: Reluctant Involvement in Conflict Resolution’, European Foreign Affairs Review 14:4, pp. 457–477, 2009.
  • Re-setting the Eastern Partnership in Moldova, Policy Brief 199, Centre for European Policy Studies, November 2009, Brussels.
  • European and Russian Neighbourhood Policies Compared, cu-authored with Andrew Wilson in Journal of Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 9:3, 2009, pp. 317 – 331.
  • Can the EU win the peace in Georgia?’, ECFR Policy Brief, 24 August 2008, Nicu Popescu, Mark Leonard and Andrew Wilson.
  • Internationalizing the Georgia-Abkhazia Conflict Resolution Process: Why a Greater European Role is Needed’, GMF Policy Brief; Ron Asmus, Svante E. Cornell, Antje Herrberg, and Nicu Popescu, June 2008.

References

  1. ↑ "'Moldova government unwilling to leave': Foreign minister-designate". 10 June 2019.
  2. ↑ "Игорь Додон провел встречу с новым министром иностранных дел Николаем Попеску".
  3. ↑ "Nicu Popescu".
  4. ↑ "Nicu Popescu | Russia Direct".
  5. ↑ "Nicu Popescu – Viceprim-ministru, Ministrul Afacerilor Externe și Integrării Europene | GUVERNUL REPUBLICII MOLDOVA".
  6. ↑ "Nicu Popescu | European Union Institute for Security Studies".
  7. ↑ "| Ministerul Afacerilor Externe şi Integrării Europene al Republicii Moldova".
  8. ↑ "Nicu Popescu | Joint Research Centre - Academia.edu".
  9. ↑ "Nicu Popescu – European Council on Foreign Relations".
  10. ↑ "Nicu Popescu | the Guardian". TheGuardian.com.
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