President Iohannis: I have divergences in many areas with our Gov't,but not in preparing EU Council Presidency

AGERPRES special correspondent Florentina Peia reports: President Klaus Iohannis stated that things are moving in respect to the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, adding that he has divergences with the Government in may areas, but not in respect to preparing the Romanian Presidency of the EU Council.

"When I made that statement, that was the case. And I thing you've noticed that some things changed since then. I received this very morning, [information] when talking with Mrs Ambassador [Permanent Representative of Romania to the European Union Luminita Odobescu], with other representatives in Brussels, that things are moving. (..) Things are moving in terms of the practical training and logistics. We had left a few logistics issues, equipment, matters that must work from day one and I was assured that these things which remained somewhat uncertain, most of them were unlocked by the new minister, and things are going in a good direction. (...) I do not want to make now any judgments on Negrescu's work, but it's much better now," the head of state said on Sunday, after the extraordinary meeting of the European Council in Brussels.

He underscored that he has no divergences with the Government in respect to the preparation of the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU.

"I have divergences in many areas with our Government, but not in the European Affairs area and not in the preparation of the Romanian Presidency of the EU Council. We must understand that the internal political fight is one thing and another thing is the presidency and we want to have a successful presidency of the EU Council. Things got along well. We work together for the presidency and we will perform well. This is not a problem. I am not going to transfer the divergences of domestic politics to the presidency and I don't think there are any such concerns either on the Government side," Iohannis said.

The head of state mentioned that he is currently more optimistic in respect to the Presidency of the EU Council, showing that he gets involved personally in this regard.

"Not only do I feel, I make [things]. All the meetings and all the discussions that I carry out for this Presidency, and they are many, many more that it is seen directly. There are good talks, people understands that we want to have a successful presidency, they help us, support us. They have concerns after things went how they went, the body here felt that work is still to be done until it works, but I really am more optimistic now than I was a few weeks ago," Iohannis stated.

President Iohannis underscored that Romania will be able to coordinate the files that it will manage during the Presidency of the EU Council, such as the budget of the Union.

"We can certainly do this, but let no one be under the impression that what happens in a Presidency of the Council is only up to the state holding the presidency. It is a presidency that has the majority of technical aspects. (...) Colleagues work in all the Union formats and each one has its vote, but we must have people who are ready to conduct these discussions, these formats, know what it is about and, to the extent that it is a clear Romanian interest, to expose it, not impose it. In these formats we cannot work through imposition, we can work only through exposure and conviction, and we have good people in the relevant areas, and we can do this thing," Iohannis said.

He labeled the possibility that Finland takes over Romania's place at the Presidency of the EU Council as "a press story."

"In the Council, I stand next to the Prime Minister of Finland [Juha Sipila], to his right and today I have guaranteed him that he won't get the presidency on January 1st and we both laughed, and he accepted. Things don't have a real basis. (...) It was a statement initiated by someone in Finnish journalism, a theoretical matter that led to a little bit more attention, but there was no real foundation for that," Iohannis said.

On 12 November, President Klaus Iohannis said Romania is not ready to take over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

"I have to mention a great concern that I have, that I hope you have although it does not concern you directly. It is about the year 2019. You know well that as of January 1, 2019 Romania will take over the EU Council Presidency, an extremely important position, a very honorable position, an extremely demanding position, especially for the Government. My opinion is that we are not prepared for something like this," Iohannis told the General Assembly of the Association of Romania's Municipalities.

Iohannis said that "in the Government those responsible for different sectors no longer understand each other, the people who should deal with European issues are leaving or are dismissed and thus, we find ourselves at the last minute totally unprepared. These things are very serious," the head of state said. AGERPRES (RO - editor: Marius Fratila; EN - editor: Rodica State)