Romanian PM Ciucǎ in Brussels

Romania's accession to the passport-free travel area was the central topic of the talks that Romania's PM Nicolae Ciucă had in Brussels on Wednesday with high-ranking EU and Belgian officials.

In fact, the theme was approached in all the discussions with the president of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola, the European Commission chief Ursula von de Leyen, and with Belgium's PM Alexander De Croo.

In his meeting with the president of the European Commission, PM Ciucă highlighted the very good conclusions of the recent EU assessment mission, which in his opinion confirms that Romania is prepared to join Schengen.

Alexander De Croo praised the efforts of the Romanian authorities and said one last step needed to be taken, an important one for all citizens. As for Nicolae Ciucă, he pointed out that Romania took all the necessary measures to reach its goal. He emphasised that Romania made efforts to meet all technical requirements and standards and that naturally, if necessary, the Romanian authorities were open to clarifying any points based on the Commission's existing approaches and bilaterally, with any EU member country interested in finding out more than the Commission's report mentions.

At the NATO headquarters, PM Ciucă had talks with the Alliance's secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg. The latter reiterated that Romania was a valuable Ally, which made important contributions to NATO's security, and that NATO is ready to protect both Romania, and all its other members, in the context of the recent developments in Ukraine, whereby Russia has turned the Black Sea region into a war zone. Jens Stoltenberg also praised Romania's efforts to support the French-led NATO battle group in Romania, which comprises troops from the Netherlands and Belgium as well.

Romania will continue to make active and responsible contributions to promoting Euro-Atlantic security and stability, and the consolidation of NATO's deterrence and defence posture is essential, PM Nicolae Ciucă said in his turn. Given the dynamic nature of these developments and Russia's unpredictability, he went on to say, NATO needs to closely monitor the situation at the Black Sea. This war has unfortunately highlighted what Romania has been arguing for a long time, namely the strategic relevance of the Black Sea to NATO, to the Alliance's major security interests.

Apart from Schengen-related matters and the EU's response to Russia's military aggression in Ukraine, PM Nicolae Ciucă's talks with Brussels officials also tackled the strengthening of the Union's neighbourhood policies and the energy security. (AMP)