The Romanian-German Ties, Assessed in Bucharest

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier paid a one-day official visit to Romania, on Monday.

Florentin Căpitănescu, 10.03.2015, 13:58

Following the victory of the former mayor of Sibiu, the German ethnic Klaus Iohannis in the presidential election last November, quite a few people believed that the relationship between Romania and Germany, which has been a good one, characteristic of their EU membership status, but lacking any special affinities, would improve.

This idea was reiterated on the occasion of the visit that President Klaus Iohannis paid to Berlin in February and emphasized during German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s visit to Bucharest, on Monday. The talks that Steinmeier had with President Iohannis, Prime Minister Victor Ponta and Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu focused on mostly delicate issues. One of them was Romania’s joining the Schengen area, perhaps the most resounding failure of Romania’s foreign policy after the country’s 2007 EU accession.

Talking about it, Minister Steinmeier said that Romania’s not being a Schengen member had nothing to do with the security issues in the region against the background of the conflict in the neighboring Ukraine. The foreign official hailed the Bucharest authorities’ efforts to meet the accession criteria and the progress made in the reform of the justice system. Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu reiterated Romania’s standpoint according to which this country fully meets the technical criteria for the Schengen accession:

Bogdan Aurescu: “Romania has achieved a lot in terms of securing the European area against illegal migration and a number of other threats. The country’s Schengen accession will only increase our effectiveness in this respect, and we can support this statement with clear arguments.”

The economic component of the Romanian-German ties was also tackled on Monday, since Germany is Romania’s most important commercial partner as Prime Minister Victor Ponta pointed out. According to Steinmeier, although a series of important measures have been taken, recognized as such by German investors, more transparency is needed in the regulation of the Romanian business environment, seen as unfriendly due to an imperfect legal framework and the large number of taxes.

At the end of the visit, in Sibiu, the German official and President Iohannis attended an event that marked the 25th anniversary of the German Democratic Forum. On that occasion, the German Foreign Minister received the title of honorary citizen of the city of Sibiu, which was European Capital of Culture in 2007.