Former Romanian Prime Minister Dăncilă Calls for Ending Aid to Ukraine

Statement by the former prime minister

Former Prime Minister of Romania Viorica Dăncilă, in an interview with New York Magazin Romania, said that the Romanian authorities should stop providing aid to Ukraine and put the interests of their own citizens first. According to her, officials must first of all take care of their own country and citizens, and only then help others to the extent possible. She claims that if she were making decisions now, she would halt aid to the Ukrainian side, and she believes that the authorities have driven the population into poverty for the sake of supporting neighboring countries, making Ukraine and Moldova their main priority.

Context of previous statements

Dăncilă's statement fits into a series of recent remarks by Romanian politicians about support for Kyiv. As Gazeta.Ru reported, the first deputy chairman of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians party, Dan Dungaciu, statedthat Romania no longer has the resources to financially help Ukraine: according to him, Bucharest is not blocking any European aid to Kyiv, but the republic is no longer able to take on commitments to support it. Earlier, the President of Romania expressed skepticism about the chances of a swift resolution of the conflict in Ukraine. Thus, criticism of aid to Ukraine is being voiced in Romania from various political positions — from opposition politicians to the highest official in the state, although the publication does not cite any reaction from the current government to Dăncilă's words.