PM Dancila tells EP Romania has proved its ability to contribute to EU's added value

While holding the presidency of the EU Council, Romanian officials proved Romania's ability to contribute to the added value of the European Union, Prime Minister Viorica Dancila said in Strasbourg on Tuesday at a plenary session of the European Parliament. "It was important to show that the European institutions work for the citizens and especially that they produce results that improve their lives and offer prospects for the future. I am pleased to say that Romania was successful. (...) We believed it was necessary for our actions to be built around cohesion - as a common European value. Romania has demonstrated that it can successfully perform amidst challenges and trends that call into question the determination of the European Union to move forward. We proved Romania's ability to contribute to the added value of the European Union, as reflected in the consistent activity report we are leaving behind: 90 legislative files closed and approximately 2,500 events and meetings," said Dancila. She added that, at the same time, Romania facilitated the adoption of 84 conclusions of the council on several topics of common interest. "We wanted under our tenure to have visible, sustainable results which citizens could easily and clearly relate to. (...) For example, I would like to think that when a European citizen gets a fairer and more transparent access to the labour market that will allow him or her to better balance his or her professional life and personal life he or she will know that these decisions were made under the Romanian presidency, and I also want to believe that the European citizens will feel safer and more protected within the borders of the union thanks to the efforts of our presidency as well. We took a leap in quality in that direction, and from now on we will be able to make more effective checks at the external borders, and improve security of our identity cards," said Dancila. She pointed out that Romania achieved consistent results on all four priority pillars of the presidency: Convergence Europe, Europe of safety, EU global player, and Europe of common values. "In the framework of the 'Convergence Europe' pillar, the Romanian presidency deployed intense efforts to advance negotiations on the future Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027, both on the political and sectoral levels. We also succeeded in concluding negotiations over a sizeable number of legislative files aimed at strengthening the banking union and the capital markets union, while providing a long-term vision for the single market. At the same time, the concrete results in areas such as the internal market - in all its dimensions - energy, social affairs and climate change, will remain landmarks and are already taken over by our partners in the trio - Finland and Croatia," said Dancila. She argued that the Romanian presidency made an important contribution to the completion of the digital single market under the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market. The prime minister pointed out that another priority was to strengthen the European Union's social dimension, while the establishment of the European Labour Authority was an example of success. "From the perspective of the Energy Union, we adopted a proposal to amend the Natural Gas Directive, which will ensure, for the first time, a unified and transparent regulatory framework for gas interconnections with third countries. We also worked on the development of a common long-term vision for climate neutrality. We adopted the first regulations on emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles," said Dancila. Romania, she added, acted on the the pillar of the Romanian presidency, Europe of safety, in order to increase the level of security at EU-wide. "We strengthened the mandate of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, and by adopting legislation on interoperability, we are sending a clear signal that European information systems need to complete each other. This is an excellent example of continued co-operation among the member states to strengthen the internal security and the functionality of the Schengen area, an objective to which Romania wishes to continue to fully contribute. In the area of migration, we deployed efforts to advance negotiations over the reform of the European asylum and migration policy. We were able to advance negotiations over the Return Directive and discussions on the establishment of temporary arrangements, despite all the persistent disagreements over the issues. We also completed negotiations over the functioning of the European migration liaison officers network. In order to improve the response to cyber-attacks, a framework of sanctions was adopted to respond to cyber-attacks. Thus, for the first time, sanctions will be imposed on those involved in cyber-attacks threatening the European Union or any of its member states. Romania will continue to act in this area, seeking to host a European agency specialising in this area," Dancila said. As far as the external dimension reflected in the "European Union as a global actor" pillar is concerned, she said, the Romanian presidency invested strong efforts in strengthening the profile of an active and effective union that is involved in its neighbourhood, and credible by honouring its international commitments. "Progress was made in relevant areas such as the Western Balkans, the Eastern Partnership, and the Black Sea region. Enlargement represents a geostrategic investment in the EU's economic, political and security welfare. In the Western Balkans, we managed, in a complex context, to preserve the remarkable and even historical developments of last year and to maintain strategic opportunities for partners in the region, and I mean here Albania and North Macedonia," Dancila said. The prime minister also mentioned the relevance of the objectives of the Romanian presidency on the "Europe of common values" pillar. "The phenomenon of disinformation is of undeniable topicality, and that is why we submitted to the European Council a report on combating disinformation and securing correct European elections. Another major objective of our presidency was to fight against anti-Semitism, xenophobia, hate speech and all forms of intolerance. We hope that these efforts will be continued by our trio partners. We believe that promoting equal opportunities and gender equality is a major objective that was found in the architecture of the new European institutions, the European Parliament and the European Commission," said Dancila. AGERPRES (RO - author: Daniel Florea, editor: Florin Marin; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Adina Panaitescu)

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