France–Romania relations

French-Romanian relations are bilateral foreign relations between France and Romania. Diplomatic relations between the two countries date back to 1880, when mutual legations were opened, although contacts between France and Romania's precursor states stretch into the Middle Ages.

French-Romania relations

France	Romania

Both countries are full members of the Council of Europe, the European Union and NATO. Since 1993, Romania is a member of the Francophonie. France has given full support to Romania's membership in the European Union and NATO.

History

The first contacts between the Romanians and the French started in the late 14th century, when the French knights led by John of Nevers participated in the Battle of Nicopolis alongside Voivode Mircea the Elder and his soldiers.

16th - 18th centuries

Between 1579 and 1583, King Henry III supported Petru Cercel in his bid for the Wallachian throne.

During the 17th and 18th centuries, the relations between the French and the Romanians intensified due to the numerous French merchants and intellectuals who traveled to the Romanian Principalities. In 1762, Claude-Charles de Peyssonnel proposed the establishment of a French representation in the Principalities. A French consulate would be opened in 1798 in Bucharest, and a vice consulate in Iași.

19th century

In 1860, the French Emperor Napoleon III sent a French military mission to Romania. Diplomatic relations started at legation level on 20 February 1880, with Mihail Kogălniceanu appointed as the first plenipotentiary minister of Romania in Paris.

20th century

French foreign policy in the 1920s and 1930s aimed to build military alliances with small nations in Eastern Europe to counter the threat of German attacks. Paris saw Romania as an ideal partner in this venture, especially from 1926 to 1939. The end of this partnership was signaled by a statement made by both France and Great Britain towards the end of 1939 that the Kingdom of Romania would remain independent from both the Nazis and the Soviets. A few months later, the Axis powers would cross into French borders and sweep through the country.

The annexation of Romanian territory through the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact caused distrust of then-ruling King Carol II, and following his forced abdication, the far-right military leader Ion Antonescu took control of the country. Within a two year period, France and Romania had lost power to the Nazis, which would not be reclaimed until 1944-1945.

In 1979 French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing visited Bucharest and in 1980 he received Romanian president Nicolae Ceaușescu as a guest in Paris.

Companies

From 1976 until 1994 the French automaker Citroën attempted to make profit with a socialist–capitalist joint venture. It built the Citroën Axel for Western markets, while branding it the Oltcit in Romania. Romania was seeking up-to-date technology to strengthen its weak industrial sector. Citroën wanted peripheral production centres with lower wages to lower production costs and reach new markets. In the long run the venture was a costly failure for several reasons. Supply lines were often interrupted so that production output fell short of expectations. Romanian factories were unable to produce flawless cars or meet delivery deadlines.

The French multinational banking company Société Générale acquired the majority stake in the Romanian bank Banca Română pentru Dezvoltare in 1999, and renamed it BRD – Groupe Société Générale. It is the third largest bank in Romania by total assets and market share.

French construction company Colas Group has worked on the Romanian A2 motorway section between Cernavodă and Medgidia, between March 2009 and April 2011, when the contract was terminated by the National Company of Motorways and National Roads of Romania due to low progress from the French company.

Resident diplomatic missions

• France has an embassy in Bucharest.
• Romania has an embassy in Paris and a consulates-general in Lyon, Marseille and Strasbourg.

• 
  Embassy of France in Bucharest
• 
  Embassy of Romania in Paris
• 
  Consulate-General of Romania in Lyon
• 
  Consulate-General of Romania in Strasbourg

See also

• Foreign relations of France
• Foreign relations of Romania
• Romanians in France
• Election to the Romanian throne 1866

Further reading

• Bowd, Gavin. "De Gaulle, Ceausescu and May 1968." Twentieth Century Communism 3.3 (2011): 131–147.
• Gatejel, Luminita. "A Socialist–Capitalist joint venture: Citroën in Romania during the 1980s." Journal of Transport History 38.1 (2017): 70–87.
• Hoisington Jr, William A. "The Struggle for Economic Influence in Southeastern Europe: The French Failure in Romania, 1940." Journal of Modern History 43.3 (1971): 468–482. online
• Jackson, Peter. "France and the guarantee to Romania, April 1939." Intelligence and National Security 10.2 (1995): 242–272.
• Thomas, Martin. "To arm an ally: French arms sales to Romania, 1926–1940." Journal of Strategic Studies 19.2 (1996): 231–259.
• Torrey, Glenn E. Henri Mathias Berthelot: Soldier of France, Defender of Romania (Histria Books, 2001).

External links

• French Foreign Ministry about relations with Romania Archived 2008-03-11 at the Wayback Machine
• Romanian Foreign Ministry about relations with France
• French embassy in Bucharest (in French)
• Romanian embassy in Paris