Two European Commissioners in Bucharest
European Commissioners Roxana Mînzatu and Apostolos Tzitzikostas have separately scheduled visits to Romania on March 30 and 31.
Roxana Vasile, 31.03.2026, 14:00
The European project must focus, above all, on people, on quality jobs, on investments in education, in healthcare and on protecting the rights of every citizen, Romanian President Nicuşor Dan said in a post on Facebook, after the meeting he held on Monday in Bucharest, with the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, the Romanian Roxana Mînzatu, European Commissioner for Social Rights and Skills, Quality Jobs and Training. Labor mobility, recognition of diplomas and professional qualifications across the EU, facilitating investments in sustainable housing, supporting vulnerable categories, but also the need for Romania’s European Union budget to remain consistent, at least at the current level, in order to maintain the pace of investments in strategic areas, were the topics discussed by Nicușor Dan and Roxana Mînzatu. The European official’s visit to Romania included participation in the launch of a project co-financed by the EU, to manage non-reimbursable external funds and monitor their contribution to sustainable development.
The project, to be conducted over 4 years, will monitor the coherence of the Cohesion Policy with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, providing an updated map of non-reimbursable external financing or strengthening skills by training 200 people from the 8 development regions in the field of sustainable development and circular economy, all of which will contribute to an efficient, digitalized and sustainability-oriented administration.
The important topic in Bucharest regarding the acceleration of projects and reforms, some of them delayed, undertaken by Romania under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) was approached at the meeting that Roxana Mînzatu also had with Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan, who wants the country to make the most of the funds available through this European mechanism.
The situation of fuel prices, transport interconnection projects, military mobility and the dialogue on the development of the future European strategy for sustainable tourism were the main topics that Prime Minister Bolojan addressed, also on Monday, in Bucharest, with Apostolos Tzitzikostas, European Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism. He highlighted Romania’s geostrategic importance for the security of the region and Europe and stressed the need to speed up interconnection projects, stating that Romania is aligned with the priorities of his mandate.
Among the projects were mentioned boosting cross-border cooperation between Romania, Greece and Bulgaria in transport infrastructure, the use of funds through the SAFE program for the interconnection of Romania with the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine via A8 and A7 highways and the development of the Port of Constanta on the Black Sea. (EE)
