Iohannis: I am determined to negotiate really hard to get more money for Romania

AGERPRES special correspondent Florentina Peia reports: President Klaus Iohannis on Friday stated he is determined to negotiate "really hard" to get more money for Romania from the cohesion and agricultural funds, from the multiannual budget of the European Union. "The idea is to identify a common ground in these discussions on the multiannual budget. I come with the ideas I thought about in Bucharest. We planned very well how to fight for the budget we want, starting from the premise that, regardless of the circumstances under which the budget for the next budgetary exercise is being negotiated, it must be a little bit higher than the budget for the last exercise. We have expectations related to the cohesion policy, for there are more funds in this category, which are vital for us to reach an acceptable convergence as quickly as possible. Also very important for us are the funds for agriculture. These are the two chapters I am very determined to negotiate on really hard to get more money for Romania, but there are also certain conditions to be met that are important, such as, for instance, the flexibility among funds. Also important is that the transition fund for a greener economy to not be part of the cohesion one, but an additional one. Today we have come with all the conditions we desire. It will be a discussion and, in the end, it will come to a negotiation, and everyone will try to get as much as possible from it," said Iohannis, before the meeting with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel. He stated that Romania supports a contribution of states to the EU multiannual budget "a little bigger" than 1pct of the Gross National Income. "We have to be extremely realistic. The equation is extremely complicated, because there are two types of states - some that pay more than they receive and some that receive more than they pay. We fall into the category of states that receive more than we contribute and still no agreement has been reached between those who contribute more and those who receive more. There are states that remain firmly on the position that they will only pay 1pct of the Gross National Income and here there are some calculations that show that we reach a very low limit. The Commission's proposal from which we initiated discussions a long time ago started from a contribution of 1.1pct and something. You realize that if it goes down towards 1pct, then the total amount will be considerably smaller and the cuts have to be made somewhere. We are still trying through negotiations to reach a contribution of slightly higher than 1pct to make money available for cohesion as well as for agriculture and for new research projects, the Green Deal and so on," said Iohannis. The head of state argued that it is quite complicated to link financing through European funds with the rule of law, but said that Romania does not oppose this mechanism. "We agree to link the granting of funds to the observance of the rule of law, but the specialists still have much work to do until they come with very specific criteria that can be applied. (...) If a clear procedure is reached, we are ok with it," added Iohannis. (RO - editor: Mihai Simionescu; EN - author: Bogdan Gabaroi, editor: Simona Iacob)