“It is with deep sadness that I learned of the death of His Majesty King Michael I of Romania whom I had the chance to know.” This is the beginning of the message of condolence sent by the European Commission President Jean-Claude Junker on his behalf and on behalf of the European Commission. “I am fondly remembering our meetings and, in particular, I would like to pay tribute to his role when, in 1997, he undertook a tour of European capitals to promote Romanias entry into the European Union. Twenty-two years later, his beloved country will, for the first time in the first half of 2019, hold the presidency of the European Union. This will be an important moment for Romania and an important moment for the future of our Union” Junkers message also reads.
In turn, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova Pavel Filip has stated that “by losing the former sovereign Michael I, Romania has lost a leader with a highly democratic vision, a role model in terms of honesty, modesty and nobility. A man of great wisdom and morality, telling of the history of an entire people, and who will remain in the national consciousness as an emblematic figure of Romanian history and culture.”
The personality of King Michael I has also been evoked in the international press. To France Press, His Majesty embodied Romanias tragic destiny in the 20th century, a country caught in the turmoil of the Second World War and then held in the grip of communist terror. The US daily “The Washington Post” speaks of the last king of Romania as “one of the last surviving links to Europes royal heads of state before and during World War II.” “He lived a life defined by political intrigue and buffeted by nearly every major upheaval on the continent in the past century. Banished by the communists in early 1948, he spent decades in exile before returning to his homeland amid the collapse of the Soviet bloc. He eventually carved out a role as an unofficial diplomat, helping Romania join NATO in 2004 and the European Union in 2007” the Washington Post also reads.
The German news agency DPA has too evoked the former sovereign, saying that his most remarkable political move was to declare war against Nazi Germany on August 23rd, 1944, and arrest Hitlers ally in Bucharest, the Prime Minister, Marshall Ion Antonescu. Also, the Spanish daily “El Mundo” reads that King Michael is a personality instrumental in understanding the troubled European history in the past eighty years, and his long exile, lasting for over half a century, was a terrible trial in his life, which irrevocably marked his character.
(Translated by Mihaela Ignatescu)