On his first visit to Romania as president of the
\nEuropean Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker had a very busy agenda. He addressed the
\nBucharest Parliament, met the head of state Klaus Iohannis and Prime Minister
\nSorin Grindeanu and took part in a dialogue with citizens on the future of
\nEurope, alongside the European Commissioner for Regional Development Corina
\nCretu. <\/p>\n
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Romania’s joining the Schengen agreement, the
\ntermination of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, by means of which
\nthe Commission has been monitoring the Romanian justice system ever since the
\naccession to the EU in 2007, the fight against corruption and the absorption of
\nEuropean funds were among the main topics tackled by the European official. <\/p>\n
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Romania must be part of the Schengen area, because it
\nhas met all the necessary criteria, Juncker said. Accession should take place
\nby early 2019, when Romania takes over the 6-month presidency of the EU
\nCouncil, said the EC President. He also added that the Cooperation and
\nVerification Mechanism must be terminated by that time, because Romania has
\nmade significant progress in the past ten years with regard to reforming its
\njudiciary and fighting corruption. One cannot preside the EU while having the
\nimpression that one is being controlled and watched by the others, Juncker
\nsaid. However, he warned that lifting the Mechanism would not mark the end of
\nreforms, but would translate into enhanced cooperation. We count on the speed
\nand effectiveness of the Romanian authorities, Parliament in particular, in
\nguaranteeing the irreversibility of the programmes developed in the field of the
\njudiciary, Juncker told Romania’s Parliament. He also said citizens’ trust can
\nonly be gained by observing the independence of the judiciary and the
\nseparation of powers. <\/p>\n
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As regards corruption, the President of the European
\nCommission stated that this scourge must be eradicated. In another move,
\nJean-Claude Juncker gave assurances that Romania can count on the Commission’s
\nunconditional support with regard to attracting EU funds. It’s quite clear,
\nJuncker said, that Bucharest must focus more on absorbing these funds. The idea
\nof a multi-speed Europe, a concept firmly rejected by the Bucharest
\nauthorities, Brexit and the EU’s relations with Russia were some of the other
\nissues approached by the EC President during his visit to Romania. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker travelled to Bucharest on Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":73413,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[38946],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-73412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-jean-claude-juncker-romania-visit"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n