ForMin Melescanu: Timmermans's message in Bucharest extremely encouraging, visit scheduled more than a month before

The message conveyed by European Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans during his visit to Bucharest this week were "extremely encouraging", and the trip of the EU official had been scheduled a long time before, Minister of Foreign Affairs Teodor Melescanu on Friday evening told private broadcaster Digi24.

"Timmermans's messages were extremely encouraging as regards the CVM and the lifting of the mechanism by 2019, by the end of the Commission's term, and he also made a clear-cut statement about Romania's joining the Schengen, as it is fully entitled to and must get membership as fast as possible," Melescanu said.

He underscored that Timmermans's visit to Romania this Thursday is part of the "continuous dialogue between the Romanian authorities and the European Commission".

"'You are running a marathon, keep running (...), don't stop, don't stand still, and, for Heaven's sake, certainly don't run in the other direction'. These were the words of Timmermans and I find this is perfectly reasonable," said the Romanian chief diplomat.

He also voiced his opinion that the message of the European Commission's First Vice President was a "pat on the shoulder" for the Romanian leaders.

"He said 'You have made very important progress', he patted us on the shoulder, keep going, this is what I make out of Mr. Timmermans's message," added Melescanu.

The ForMin also revealed that the visit of the EU high official had been "scheduled long ago", even if it hadn't been officially announced.

"It may be and it may not be announced (...), it was discussed during the visit of Mrs. Prime Minister to Brussels and I discussed it myself too, so this is a project that has been going on for at least a month and half," Melescanu also said.

Regarding allegations that tied Timmermans's visit to Romania to the request of Justice Minister Tudorel Toader to have anticorruption head Laura Codruta Kovesi removed from office, Melescanu said: "If you think Mr. Timmermans knows when Mr. Tudorel Toader will come out with a public speech, you are wrong."

First Vice President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans said on Thursday in Bucharest that much has been achieved over the past 20 years in terms of reinforcing the judiciary.

"So much was achieved over the last 20 years in terms of reinforcing the judiciary, creating a really independent judiciary in Romania. So many things were also achieved in the last 11 years since Romania joined the European Union and with the CVM [Co-operation and Verification Mechanism] in force. It is like running a marathon and we are now in the final stretch of that marathon. My message today was: keep running; you're not in the wrong direction! Keep running towards the end of this marathon; we are almost there. There is only a few [European] Commission recommendations that still need to be fulfilled. But don't stop, don't stand still, and, for Heaven's sake, certainly don't run in the other direction!," Timmermans said at a news conference.

He also pointed out that the ambition of the European Commission is to finalise the CVM by the end of 2019, yet adding that there are still a few things to be done. AGERPRES (RO - author: Oana Ghita, editor: Florin Marin; EN - author/editor: Simona Klodnischi)