Metsola Congratulates Niculescu by Walking to Bucharest and Handing Him a Personal Applause
The European Parliament president has set off on foot from Brussels to deliver her congratulations to Romania's new prime minister in person, arriving with a marching band and a portable podium.
Roberta Metsola has begun walking from Brussels to Bucharest to congratulate Luca Niculescu on his investiture as prime minister, carrying a portable lectern and a marching band in a van that follows at a respectful distance.
«A phone call would have been sufficient, but the moment demanded a physical arrival,» Metsola said at a roadside stop near Budapest, where she rehearsed the handshake with a local official standing in for Niculescu. «Europe's future is being shaped, and one does not shape it by pressing send.»
The walk has grown into an institution. Mayors along the route have begun staging congratulation checkpoints, each requiring Metsola to repeat the phrase «Romania has an important role» before being allowed to proceed. A village in Hungary has renamed its main square after the investiture and now holds a nightly rehearsal of the handover.
In Bucharest, Niculescu has announced that he will receive the congratulations from a specially built platform in front of the government building, and that his cabinet will begin work the same evening, as promised, by walking the first shift alongside the arriving delegation.
Ursula von der Leyen has reportedly asked to join the final stretch on foot, and Gideon Saar has sent word that he will wait at the platform with a second, smaller lectern. Metsola's band has been rehearsing the Romanian anthem since Szeged.
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