The EU and its Southern Neighbourhood
Romania continues to make afforts, alongside regional and international partners, to ensure security and sustainable development in the region, Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu said.
Daniela Budu, 27.11.2020, 13:50
“Challenges in the Euro-Mediterranean area require a joint, firm and coordinated dynamic answer,” said Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu, who on Thursday attended the EU-Southern Neighborhood Ministerial Meeting held in a videoconference format. According to a Foreign Ministry release, the meeting of the heads of European diplomacies with their counterparts in the Southern Neighborhood was held in the context of the celebration of 25 years since the launch of the Barcelona Process, offering the opportunity to discuss ways to consolidate the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. This initiative emphasizes the EU’s strong commitment to the Mediterranean region, an area of vital strategic importance in political and economic terms.
On this occasion, Minister Aurescu said Romania remains firmly committed to promoting a consistent political dialogue of multidimensional cooperation and integration into the Euro-Mediterranean region. Moreover, Romania continues to act, alongside its regional and international partners, in the direction of ensuring security and sustainable development in the region. Aurescu also talked about a strong regional and international interdependence, proven once more by the medical crisis triggered by the coronavirus pandemic. In his opinion, the lessons learned in this period must also be used in other domains that require joint action, such as climate change and its consequences, with the countries in the region being affected by phenomena such as higher sea and ocean levels and desertification.
Bogdan Aurescu emphasized the need for strengthened political dialogue between the EU and the countries in the Southern Neighborhood, for ensuring stability and finding solutions, through negotiation, to the conflicts in the region, the release also reads. The Romanian official encouraged efforts to find the best ways to modernize and adjust the European Neighborhood Policy, by taking into account the recent international evolutions that affect the EU and its neighbours. We remind you that under the European Neighborhood Policy, the EU offers its neighbors a privileged relationship based on mutual commitment to common values such as democracy and human rights, rule of law, god governing, market economy principles and sustainable development. The European Neighborhood Policy supports political coordination and deeper economic integration, enhanced mobility and interpersonal contacts. (Translated by Elena Enache)
