Better firefighting: Readying Europe for an age between war and peace
Facing wars and crises, the EU can no longer rely on slow peacetime processes. It needs a plan for faster industrial and infrastructural adaptation
Distinguished policy fellow
Russian domestic and foreign policies. Eastern Partnership countries and their relations with the EU, post-Soviet conflicts, cybersecurity
English, Russian, French, Romanian
Nicu Popescu is a distinguished policy fellow of the European Power programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations, based in the Paris office. His areas of focus include how the EU should adapt itself and its policies in light of the war in Ukraine, including the development of a ‘war economy’, as well as EU enlargement to the east and Europe’s relations with Russia.
Popescu served as Moldova’s deputy prime-minister and minister for foreign affairs and European integration between August 2021 and January 2024, and foreign minister between June and November 2019. In his second mandate, he managed the country’s foreign policy in the extremely tense regional environment shaped by Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. Under the leadership of President Maia Sandu, he steered efforts to build wide-ranging international support for Moldova’s aims to maintain peace and stability. He helped mobilise international attention to Moldova and concrete support for the country’s efforts to overcome the negative consequences of the war in the security, humanitarian, energy, and economic spheres.
As deputy prime minister, he was lead coordinator of the EU accession process. Under his mandate, Moldova applied for EU membership, obtained EU candidate status (2022), and the European Council approved the start of its EU accession talks (2023). In this period Moldova had been widely applauded for its reform record, having most successfully implemented the EU acquis among all candidate countries (2023).
Popescu previously worked as director of the Wider Europe programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations (2011-2012, 2018-2019, and 2020-2021), senior analyst at the EU Institute for Security Studies in Paris (2013-2018), senior advisor on foreign policy and EU affairs for the prime-minister of Moldova (2010, and 2012-2013), and research fellow at ECFR in London (2007-2009) and at the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels (2005-2007).
Popescu has been associate professor at Sciences Po Paris since 2016. He also taught at the University of Barcelona (IELPO). He holds a PhD in International Relations from the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary. He has authored and co-edited several books and
over 60 policy papers, book chapters and academic articles, including authoring EU foreign policy and post-Soviet conflicts: stealth intervention (Routledge 2010), and co-editing Russia Rising: Putin’s Foreign Policy in the Middle East and North Africa (with Dimitar Bechev and Stanislav Secrieru, I.B. Tauris 2021) and Democratization in EU Foreign Policy (with Benedetta Berti and Kristina Mikulova, Routledge 2015).
He has been decorated by Maia Sandu, President of Moldova, with Moldova’s highest order – The Order of the Republic.
Facing wars and crises, the EU can no longer rely on slow peacetime processes. It needs a plan for faster industrial and infrastructural adaptation
Mark Leonard welcomes Tefta Kelmendi and Nicu Popescu to discuss what the EU can learn from the recent elections in Georgia and Moldova
In times of crisis the EU can no longer rely on its standard, slow procedures. A European Defence Production Act could transform its ability to deal with shocks
Mark Leonard welcomes Jana Kobsova and Nicu Popescu to discuss Russia, Ukraine, and the EU’s changing response to the conflict
The EU’s red tape is preventing it from responding quickly enough to major crises. An EU defence production act could help
By reforming the Eastern Partnership, the EU can capitalise on the huge opportunities for economic and social development created by digitalisation
What, if anything, can one say about the longer-term perspectives for the US-Russia relationship?
A new EUROVAX scheme should be at the heart of the EU’s new offer to help its neighbours tackle covid-19 in the years ahead
What policy changes do the EU and its member states need to envisage if the EU is to act more geopolitically and increase its influence in the Eastern neighbourhood?
Could a “concert of powers” be the solution for the increasing power competition between the US and China and the current crisis of democracy?
Facing wars and crises, the EU can no longer rely on slow peacetime processes. It needs a plan for faster industrial and infrastructural adaptation
The bloc should reframe how it speaks of human rights and democracy, while developing closer security and military links with select neighbours
The Trump years galvanised Europeans’ efforts to strengthen their own sovereignty; they now need to agree concrete offers they can make to the new administration
If the EU is to be more geopolitically influential in its own neighbourhood, it needs to start developing strategic security partnerships with key neighbours to the east and the south
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How to defrost Moldova’s frozen conflict
Learning to deal with a changing Russia under a familiar leader
Helping Moroccan democracy through evolution not revolution
The EU needs to be more influential in its eastern neighbourhood
Tunisians need European help to turn their revolution into a democracy
In times of crisis the EU can no longer rely on its standard, slow procedures. A European Defence Production Act could transform its ability to deal with shocks
The EU’s red tape is preventing it from responding quickly enough to major crises. An EU defence production act could help
By reforming the Eastern Partnership, the EU can capitalise on the huge opportunities for economic and social development created by digitalisation
A new EUROVAX scheme should be at the heart of the EU’s new offer to help its neighbours tackle covid-19 in the years ahead
Many in Europe think Russia is in decline, but basing EU policy on such deterministic thinking is a mistake. The EU should deal with Russia of today, not with that of 2050 or 2070
Offering ‘resets’ to Russia does not work. On the contrary, a more muscular approach to the country will yield results
Many of the EU’s neighbours are hoping it will help them secure vaccines – leaving offers from China and Russia to flood in
The West and Russia are both worse off for their efforts to try to weaken each other. This competition will only end when one side feels it is losing the race
No matter who wins the US election, the EU will need to play a bigger security role in its neighbourhood
EU diplomacy could facilitate a conflict settlement process by pressuring Armenia and Azerbaijan to start implementing the Madrid Principles
Mark Leonard welcomes Tefta Kelmendi and Nicu Popescu to discuss what the EU can learn from the recent elections in Georgia and Moldova
Mark Leonard welcomes Jana Kobsova and Nicu Popescu to discuss Russia, Ukraine, and the EU’s changing response to the conflict
Could a “concert of powers” be the solution for the increasing power competition between the US and China and the current crisis of democracy?
What kind of implications do the developments in Belarus have for the wider neighbourhood and Europe?
What lessons can be drawn from Josep Borrell’s controversial visit to Moscow?
When Biden enters the White House, he will look for a Europe that brings solutions rather than problems. Europeans should show they can be an equal partner & offer him a new transatlantic bargain
The contested Nagorno-Karabakh region is at the heart of a decades-long armed standoff between neighbours Armenia and Azerbaijan. The…
The attempt of a peace process in Libya is facing several substantial hindrances, where a variety of actors keep on inducing significant upheavals in its…
How is Russia dealing with covid-19? What impact does the pandemic have on the other underlying political issues in Russia – such as the change…
Last week’s episode saw our experts dissecting the coronavirus’ implications for Europe. In today's episode, we’re breaking down how the crisis is unfolding in the…
What, if anything, can one say about the longer-term perspectives for the US-Russia relationship?
What policy changes do the EU and its member states need to envisage if the EU is to act more geopolitically and increase its influence in the Eastern neighbourhood?
How is Europe planning to keep Belarus on the agenda and will it provide more political support for Belarusian civil society?
The relatively short-lived flare-up between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has ended in early November with a ceasefire brokered by Russia