Romania’s prime minister visits Brussels

The priorities of the Romanian government in 2016, Romanias Schengen accession and the lifting of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism formed part of the talks held by Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos with European officials in Brussels.

România Internațional, 17.02.2016, 14:11

Romania’s technocratic prime minister Dacian
Ciolos was in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday. During
his talks with the president of the European Commission Jean Claude-Juncker,
the president of the European Parliament Martin Schulz and with other European
officials, the prime minister presented his government’s priorities for 2016.
These include the organisation of local and parliamentary elections as well as
a number of reform projects.

Other topics on the agenda of talks were
migration, Romania’s Schengen accession and the Cooperation and Verification
Mechanism. Mr Ciolos reiterated Romania’s wish
to play a more active role as a member of the European Union and becoming more
involved in the issues included on the European agenda. Dacian Ciolos:

One of our
objectives is to play a more proactive role in the European Union and to become
proactively involved in the issues included on the European agenda. Our talks
focused on two aspects: the relationship between Great Brian and the EU and
migration.

The Romanian prime
minister has underlined that Romania wishes that the best solution be found for
Great Britain to stay in the EU. He pointed out, however, that Romania would
like to clarify certain aspects relating to the situation of Romanian workers
in the UK at the European Council meeting on Thursday and Friday in Brussels.
According to the prime minister, the social benefit mechanism should contain
clear criteria, but this should be an exception, not a rule, and should be
restricted to Great Britain alone.

During his talks
with the European officials, the Romanian prime minister also made the case for
Romania’s accession to the Schengen area. He said he would travel to the
Netherlands in early March, a country that has blocked Romania’s Schengen
accession on several occasions.

The Romanian prime
minister also called for the lifting of the Cooperation and Verification
Mechanism in the field of justice, saying Romania has its own mechanisms and
the necessary maturity to carry on the anti-corruption fight and consolidate
what it has accomplished so far. He said he received positive signals in this
respect during his talks with EU officials. The president of the European
Commission Jean-Claude Juncker said he was convinced the Cooperation and
Verification Mechanism would be finalised during his term if Romania continued
to meet the European requirements.