President Nicușor Dan said on Friday, 16 October 2026, in Brussels after the European Council, that Romania had asked allies for help on Black Sea security until equipment already ordered through the EU’s SAFE programme arrives. France’s offer of equipment, as the president described it, is not a delivery already made and not a new treaty.

He set the recent Black Sea events against earlier drone incidents on Romania’s Danube border. Then, he said, Romania asked for support until SAFE orders arrived; now it had made the same request. According to Dan, a French technical team had offered to help with the necessary equipment and to understand more clearly what is needed in the Black Sea.

On Digi24, the president said France had answered within 24 hours. He recalled that six states had responded to the earlier Danube-drone request, and said Romania has allies that help it. This account does not name the equipment types and does not announce a delivery timetable.

On the margins of the summit Dan said he had spoken with the NATO secretary-general, French president Emmanuel Macron and the prime ministers of Bulgaria and Greece. He also had a very short meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy; the two countries’ teams discussed other cooperation topics. “Ukraine has expertise it can make available,” he said, without detailing an agreement.

On 13–14 October the French Foreign Ministry condemned drone attacks on commercial ships in the Black Sea, off Bulgaria and Romania, called for a moratorium on strikes in the area and expressed solidarity with Bucharest and Sofia. The Paris statement is not the same as the technical equipment offer the Romanian president announced on Friday.

Dan also said he was convinced other allies would answer. The request covers the interval until SAFE orders arrive, which he put on Friday at a year and a half to two years. That is not a change to the SAFE programme and not a military package voted at the European Council.

Other summit points — the 2028–2034 EU budget, energy prices, Moldova’s EU path — were mentioned by the president in the same briefing. This article stays with the maritime support request and the French response, not the whole summit.

Image: Finnish Government, Nicușor Dan at the Eastern Flank Summit, 16 December 2025, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. Not the European Council of 16 October 2026.

Sources consulted: Romania asks for Black Sea security help. Nicușor Dan: France offered the necessary equipment — Mediafax; Romania’s Black Sea defence in talks with allies. Nicușor Dan announces France’s support — Digi24; Black Sea – Drone attacks on commercial ships — French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.