Priorities of Romania’s presidency presented in Strasbourg

Romanian PM Viorica Dancila presented European MPs the priorities of Romanias EU Council presidency

Bogdan Matei, 16.01.2019, 13:49

Two weeks after Romania took over, for the
first time, the presidency of the Council of the European Union, PM Viorica
Dancila went to Strasbourg to present MEPs the priorities of the country’s six-month
mandate.

Only several days before, the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude
Juncker, the President of the European Council Donald Tusk and the President of
the European Parliament Antonio Tajani travelled to Bucharest for the official
launch of Romania’s mandate.

Unlike the meeting at the
Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest, which was rather festive, the meetings in Strasbourg
were concrete and often polemical. Brexit and the negotiation of the EU budget
for the 2021-2027 period are the most important issues that Bucharest will have
to tackle in the upcoming period, PM Dancila has said.

A total of 257 dossiers
have to be debated in only four months, given the start of the election
campaign for the European Parliament elections in May. It is important, PM
Dancila has said, to show the European citizens that the EU institutions are
working for them. Europe has always managed to overcome the obstacles and
recover after less fortunate episodes of history, Dancila went on to say,
pledging to put cohesion at the centre of the Romanian presidency’s agenda.

Viorica Dancila: Emphasis will be laid on political cohesion, illustrated
by the need for unity among member states, economic and territorial cohesion aimed
at reducing the development gaps among member states and regions and social
cohesion, important through the
perspective of preserving the four freedoms of the domestic market of the
European Union.

Bucharest also plans to regulate the Energy
Union, to have a coherent management of migration flows, through
cooperation between the countries of origin and the transit countries, and to
extend the competences of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. Special
attention will be also paid to the Western Balkans.

PM Dancila has also reminded that postponing
Romania’s Schengen accession is regarded by Romanians as an inequity. In
keeping with procedures in Strasbourg, after Prime Minister Dancila’s speech
the opinions of the European Parliament’s political groups followed. Predictable
enough, the European Socialists and the Democrats, with whom the Social
Democratic Party, the main party of Romania’s ruling coalition is affiliated,
have supported the agenda presented by Dancila. In their opinion, having a
single energy market, solving the migration problem and ensuring the security
of the EU are very important.

On the other hand, the Green, left and
Liberal MEPs did not hesitate to criticise the state of things in Bucharest,
where the perseverance with which the ruling coalition made up of the Social Democratic
Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats is ignoring the street
protests and is pushing to change the justice laws and criminal codes is seen
as an attempt to subordinate magistrates and put an end to the anti-corruption
efforts.