The Bucharest Nine or the Bucharest Format is an organization founded on 4 November 2015 in Bucharest, Romania, at the initiative of the President of Romania Klaus Iohannis and the President of Poland Andrzej Duda during a bilateral meeting between them. Its members are Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. Its appearance was mainly a result of a perceived aggressive attitude from Russia following the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and its posterior intervention in eastern Ukraine both in 2014. All members of the B9 were either part of the former Soviet Union (USSR) or members of the defunct Soviet-led Warsaw Pact.
Bucharest Nine summit of heads of state in Warsaw, Poland, on 22 February 2023
Bucharest Nine ministerial meeting in Tallinn, Estonia, on 27 October 2021
Klaus Werner Iohannis, sometimes referred to by his initials KWI in the Romanian press, is a Romanian politician, physicist, and former physics teacher who has served as president of Romania since 2014. He became the president of the National Liberal Party (PNL) in 2014, after previously serving as the leader of the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania (FDGR/DFDR) between 2002 and 2013. Prior to entering national politics, he was a physics teacher at the Samuel von Brukenthal National College in his native Sibiu.
Iohannis in 2022
Iohannis as Mayor of Sibiu in May 2006
From the left to the right: Mircea Geoană, Klaus Iohannis and Crin Antonescu
Klaus Iohannis and his PSD opponent (and former USL ally) Victor Ponta at a TV debate on Realitatea TV, 11 November 2014