Angela Filote: general mobilization of EU is needed to restore citizens' confidence

Photo credit: (c) Alex TUDOR / AGERPRES Photo

The head of the Representation Office of the European Commission (EC) in Romania, Angela Filote said that a "general mobilization" of the European Union is needed in order to get out of the crisis, with restoring the citizens' confidence, adding that the best time to test solidarity is "in hard times."

"A general mobilization is needed to get out of the crisis, not anyhow, but getting past the crisis with restoring the citizens' confidence. The European Union is a union of solidarity and the best time to test solidarity (...) is the hard times. It is easy to show solidarity when everything goes well, (...) it is harder to see how this solidarity works in a time of crisis, the way it was in the European Union and the crisis, unfortunately, is not completely in the past," Filote told the conference "Europe 2020 in Romania — Priorities and Resources."

She added that, although indicators show that we are in the second year of exiting the crisis, that is not seen yet "completely" at the level of the citizen.

"Probably it will be years until the citizen will have the same level of material and mental comfort that they had before 2008," said Angela Filote.

The EC representative explained that the European Half-Year is a tool designed especially to coordinate the efforts of the member states. She added that Romania has created its own targets to help in achieving the objectives at the European Union's level.

"What do through the European Half-Year is to be in a permanent consultation with the authorities of the member states and, at a given time, when these prepare the national reform plan and the convergence one in line with the priorities set at EU's level, we, the Commission, do an analysis and see to what extent...

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