Nicu Popescu
Nicolae "Nicu" Popescu is a Moldovan author and diplomat serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of Moldova in the Sandu Cabinet from June to November 2019. Until his appointment, he was the Director of the Wider Europe programme of the European Council on Foreign Relations, a position he first held in August 2018. He also was, since 2016, a lecturer at Sciences Po.
He graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in 2002, and continued his studies at the Central European University, where he obtained both an MA and a Phd degree in International Relations. From 2005–2007, he was a researcher at the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels, Belgium. For two terms between 2007-2009 and 2011–2012, he was a head of programs and research at the European Council on Foreign Relations office in London. During his second term, he was also an advisor to the Prime Minister of Moldova on Foreign Policy and European Integration. In the three years that followed, he worked as a senior analyst and fellow at the European Union Institute for Security Studies, serving until 2016.
He is currently married and has a two children. Besides his native Romanian language, he is fluent in English, Russian and French. He also wrote a blog for the EUobserver. In the early weeks of his term, he called for the accession of Moldova to the European Union while calling for "friendly" relations with Russia.
