Iohannis: We must not forget that within EU the level of development between member states is unequal

Bucharest, June 2 /Agerpres/ - The level of development between the member states of the European Union is unequal, President Klaus Iohannis said on Wednesday, calling for "a medium and long-term vision for the European Union". He spoke online at the "Let's talk - Future of Europe" debate organized by the Group of the European People's Party (EPP) in the European Parliament. "The dialogue on the future of Europe will have to provide a medium- and long-term vision for the European Union. We need to strengthen the resilience of the European Union, increasing its capacity not only to manage emergencies, but also to adapt and drive reforms to allow us all to be prepared for the opportunities and challenges of the future. But we are not starting from scratch in this endeavor," he said. In this sense, he appreciated that a basis is reflected in the Strategic Agenda of the European Union 2019-2024. In his opinion, the conference on the Future of Europe "should give citizens the opportunity to show where they consider the actions of the European Union as important for their lives" and mentioned the 10 commitments in the Sibiu Declaration, after the 2019 Summit. The head of state stressed that "we must not forget that within the European Union the level of development between member states and regions is unequal, thus requiring a sustained effort to ensure that the future will lead to more cohesion, rather than deepening the gaps." Thus, he appreciated that "the strategic resilience of the Union must start as an internal process of transformation and construction" and in the long run the resilience "must be strengthened by taking decisions that will limit the dependencies of the European Union". AGERPRES (RO - author: Oana Ghita, editor: Florin Marin; EN - author: Bogdan Gabaroi)