Prime Minister Victor Ponta was the only European leader who attended the opening ceremony of the European Games in Baku in Azerbaijan. European Union leaders boycotted the event, with the exception of Prince Albert of Monaco.
Victor Ponta was surprised by the television cameras close to Vladimir Putin, Lukashenko, the President of Belarus and of Recep Erdogan, the President of Turkey.
The Romanian Prime Minister repeated the episode Sochi 2014, when he attended the dinner given by Putin and was photographed with him, although European leaders boycotted the opening ceremony of the Olympics because of the conflict in Ukraine..
Minister Rovana Plumb says Prime Minister went to Baku in solidarity with the Romanian athletes.
"Prime Minister Victor Ponta stated and did do a normal and natural gesture, to be with the Romanian athletes. I understand that in Baku there was a representative of the Romanian Presidency. Each institution has decided the level of representation"