Controversial envoy to Trump admin says US “should ignore Romania’s pro-Ukraine message”
Update: On Monday, April 7, prime minister Marcel Ciolacu posted a message on Facebook saying that that Dragoș Sprînceană is not his envoy and that his statements do not represent the position of the Romanian state.
Radu Dumitrescu · Journalist
· Updated · 4 min read
Update: On Monday, April 7, prime minister Marcel Ciolacu posted a message on Facebook saying that that Dragoș Sprînceană is not his envoy and that his statements do not represent the position of the Romanian state.
The prime minister's clarifications come after the businessman made a series of controversial statements saying that the Trump administration should ignore Romania's pro-Ukraine and pro-France messaging. Previously, Ciolacu had acknowledged mandating two envoys to the United States to establish a connection with the new administration at the White House. He also admitted that that Sprînceană was one of them.
"The opinions expressed in the public space by various Romanian citizens who have no official status are purely personal and do not imply a position of the Romanian state. Romania's official positions are always communicated through institutional channels, in close coordination with the Presidency and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," Marcel Ciolacu said.
"The priorities of Romanian foreign policy therefore remain unchanged. There is no ‘Ciolacu envoy,’ but there are many Romanians from the diaspora – entrepreneurs, doctors, IT specialists, etc., with whom I have spoken recently and who have shown themselves willing to open various communication channels based on the connections they have both in the United States and in Europe," he added.
Initial story: Dragoș Sprînceană, one of the special envoys recently appointed by the Romanian government to the Trump administration, claimed that French President Emmanuel Macron wants the war in Ukraine to continue and that the American administration should “ignore a bit Romania’s pro-Ukraine and pro-France messages,” since Romania currently has an interim president “who won’t matter in a month and a half.”
Sprînceană, 45, expressed several positions regarding foreign affairs that are contradictory to the official stances expressed by the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and interim president Ilie Bolojan. The latter two are the official institutions charged with the country’s foreign affairs, while the government “envoys” are a recent, and largely unofficial, innovation.
“I’m not a fan of President Macron, and I believe 99% of Republicans in the US aren’t either. That doesn’t mean Mr. Macron represents the European Union. I believe the values of the EU are completely different from what Mr. Macron is currently trying to do. The United States very much wants to stop the war in Ukraine. Mr. Macron wants the continuation of this war in Ukraine,” Sprînceană said in an interview for
