EU Council

Prime Minister Boyko Borisov talks with his Finnish counterpart, Juha Sipilä, reported NovaTV. 

The two spoke at Helsinki's government residence Kesäranta. The focus of the meeting was on the European perspective of the countries of the Western Balkans, security and border control, education, energy and tourism, the press center of the Council of Ministers announced.

Romania intends to reinvigorate the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR), Minister Delegate for European Affairs Victor Negrescu told the EUSDR National Forum, an event organized on Monday at the Palace of Parliament, on the occasion of the launch of Romania's EUSDR Presidency.

Romania's Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu on Thursday welcomed senior official with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cyprus Minas Hadjimichael, highlighting the excellent level of the bilateral relationship and agreeing on consolidating it through a mechanism for regular consultations at the level of the two ministries.

European Commissioner Gunther Oettinger said on Tuesday that the rule of law is an important value of the European Union, showing that it expects Romania to have a successful presidency of the Council of the EU.

The collaboration angles during Romania's Presidency of the Council of the EU stood at the core of Tuesday's talks between Prime Minister Viorica Dancila and the President of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR), Karl-Heinz Lambertz.

Prime Minister Viorica Dancila said on Tuesday that Romania should follow the example of the other EU member states and seek consensus for the time it holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2019, stressing that political disputes should be secondary to that.

Considering the last months' total political war, Romania is not ready to take over presidency of the Council of the European Union, the Senate's president Calin Popescu-Tariceanu wrote on Thursday on his Facebook page.

A spokesman of the Austrian presidency says Vienna is hoping to open at least three new chapters in Serbia's EU accession talks.

The working bodies of the EU Council gave progressed the furthest in three negotiating chapters: 9, 17, and 18.

Serbia and the European Commission also submitted to the Council negotiating positions for chapters 2 and 4.

AGERPRES special correspondent to Strasbourg, France, Florentina Peia reports:

President Klaus Iohannis said Tuesday that one of Romania's most important projects while holding the presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2019 is the EU summit to be held next year in Sibiu, underlining that Romania intends to have a successful office tenure.

Romania and Bulgaria, which are not just neighbours but also friends, share a past that "has contributed to an enhanced degree of empathy" between the two countries, a present characterised by "an in-depth deepened partnership" and "a common European future", Romania's Ambassador to Romania Ion Galea told an interview granted to AGERPRES.