Preparations to take over EU Council presidency

Bucharest gives assurances that its preparations to take over the EU Council presidency are on schedule.

Roxana Vasile, 07.03.2018, 13:20

Every country
that holds the 6-month European Union Council presidency, in keeping with the
rotation principle, wants to prove it is a trustworthy member that approaches
its mission with seriousness and professionalism and that it has a voice at
European level. This is also Romania’s intention, whose preparations to take
over the EU Council presidency between January 1st and June 30,
2019, are on schedule. The Minister Delegate for European Affairs, Victor
Negrescu, has told us more about it:

We will hold
the presidency of a European Union institution, namely the EU Council. This
institution represents the member states in their relation with other
institutions, such as the European Commission and the European Parliament.
Therefore, Romania’s role will be to preside over the EU Council meetings and
generate consensus, that is a common stand of all member states in their
relation with other institutions, as part of the European decision making
process.

The period when
Romania holds this position is extremely important for the future of the
community bloc, with the strategic agenda for 2019-2024, with an emphasis on
community budget, general policies, immigration and security to be drawn up
during this time. Also, according to Minister Negrescu, Romania’s EU Council
presidency will be centred around the citizens, and Romania’s message to the
European community might be the fact that Europe needs, more than ever before,
policies that are of interest to its people. Victor Negrescu:

The EU policies
that citizens are most interested in are, paradoxically, policies in fields
where Europe does not have that much power. European citizens, wherever they
may be in Europe, are expecting this entity and decision-makers to come up with
measures in the field of education, health and security.

Perhaps more
important than all these is the fact that the UK is scheduled to leave the EU
during Romania’s holding the EU Council presidency. Considering that around 3
million EU citizens live in the UK and that one million UK citizens live in the
EU, everybody is waiting to see what happens after Brexit. Referring strictly
to the bilateral relation, the British Ambassador to Bucharest, Paul Brummel,
has already given assurances that Brexit will not cause a fundamental change in
the everyday life of the UK citizens living in Romania or in that of Romanians
living in the UK. In his opinion, Romania and the UK must continue their
partnership and consolidate cooperation in the military, commercial and
scientific fields.