Luminita Odobescu, the Romanian ambassador to the EU, is one of the women who shape Brussels, according to the 2018 list made by political publication Politico Europe.

The Romanian diplomat, “who has the tough job of representing a country that many still associate with corruption at the highest levels,” is at number 6 on the list. She is “helping to keep her country’s 2019 EU presidency effort on track as Brexit, Trump, Russia and Europe’s homegrown nationalists disrupt the broader EU diplomatic scene,” Politico wrote.

Romania will hold the presidency of the EU Council in the first half of 2019. Politico says that Luminita Odobescu managed to improve the Romanian representation’s communications efforts but the real challenge will come next year “when Romania will be charged with steering Europe off the Brexit rocks and coping with a fractured political environment that could see more showdowns between national capitals and Brussels, and a heavily fragmented European Parliament.”

The full list is available here.

Luminita Odobescu has been the Romanian ambassador to the EU since 2015. Before that, she was the Romanian prime minister’s state councilor for European Affairs and Foreign Policy (2012-2015) and State Secretary for European Affairs (2012). She began her career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2001.

Three Romanians on Politico’s list of 40 MEPs who matter in 2017

Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Facebook / Luminita Odobescu)