Radio România Internațional

Tag: four-freedoms

  • EU Preparing for Brexit Negotiations

    EU Preparing for Brexit Negotiations


    Romanias Minister Delegate for European Affairs Ana Birchall, who on Thursday took part in the meeting of the General Affairs Council in Luxembourg, says the priority in the negotiations with Great Britain will be to ensure a balanced agreement, with all the four freedoms of the single market, including the free movement of people, properly and fairly reflected.



    Here is Ana Birchall for Radio Romania:


    “The integrity of the single market and of the four freedoms is extremely important for Romania, and in our view, equally important for the EU, and this will be a key guideline. For Romania in particular, I have emphasised that what is very important is the future of the Romanians who live, study and work in Britain and of their families, and that we must protect their rights and interests. We must also make sure that during the negotiation period the principle of sequencing will be complied with, in other words that we will not move on to negotiate a new element until the previous one has been fully clarified. And of course, it is very important for us to establish what the UK owes under its current obligations, or, if I may put it this way, the bill that the UK has to foot.”



    Organised following the UKs official notification of its intention to leave the European Union, the meeting in Luxembourg prepared the negotiating guidelines for the termination of Britains EU membership, which are to be endorsed by the EU leaders in a special EU Council meeting scheduled for April 29. Previously, in Bucharest, PM Sorin Grindeanu emphasised that Romania would remain a friend and ally of Britain, regardless of its staying in the EU or leaving it. In the first meeting of the Interministerial Council on Brexit, the head of the Romanian Government said that during the negotiations Romania must lobby for maintaining at the same level the agriculture and cohesion policies, which are designed to narrow the development gaps between EU members.



    Sorin Grindeanu: “Two directions that I believe Romania must follow in these negotiations are preserving the budget allocations under the cohesion policy and the common agricultural policy for the 2014-2020 financial framework, and of course strengthening the post-Brexit UK-EU cooperation in the fields of security and foreign relations.”



    International media and analysts dont expect the negotiations to be comfortable. On Thursday, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Britons that they should not expect an easy deal, whereas PM Theresa May accused the Europeans of joining forces against her country.




  • Maastricht 25

    Maastricht 25

    In December 1991, the prime ministers of 12 European countries agreed in the beautiful Dutch town of Maastricht upon the conclusion of a historic treaty, aimed to lay the structure for an economic and financial union.



    The treaty, which was signed in 1992 and came into force a year later, was the most important after the one signed in Rome in 1958, which had led to the creation of a common market, the setting up of the “four freedoms” (goods, workers, capital and services), the banning of any form of national discrimination and triggered in turn the birth of the European civil society.



    The State was no longer the sovereign on its own territory, because, in order to be effective, the common market had to function on a dimension exceeding the national one. This principle was consolidated in Maastricht, but it was not the only one. Other key principles address the status of community citizen, with the rights and duties it entails, the gradual replacement of the national currencies with the Euro, the setting up of a European central bank and the adoption of the common monetary policy.



    Also, the treaty established joint European policies in the field of education, transportation, telecommunications, health-care and energy. Also, additional powers were granted to the European Parliament and a more important role to the European Commission.



    All these social, political and economic measures adopted in Maastricht were an important step towards accomplishing the so-called “United States of Europe Project.” 25 years since the signing of the treaty, which was last amended in 2009 in Lisbon, the European Union (known as such since 1993 and which comprises 28 states) is celebrating against a background characterized by Euro-skepticism, Great Britain’s decision to break up with the Union and concerns about the relation with the US, given the recent change in power in that country.



    To Romania, the Maastricht Treaty was, three years after the anti-Communist revolution of 1989, a ray of hope, as Romanian society really needed a change after four decades of oppression. After joining NATO in 2004, Romania entered the second wave of EU enlargement and became a full member on January 1st, 2007. Currently, the implementation of the Treaty’s basic principles is still a constructive challenge for the Romanian authorities.



    Among other things, they are focusing on the economic growth measures needed for Romania to join the Eurozone in the coming years. Also, one topical issue is the fight against corruption, at all levels, as a last criterion to be met in order for Romania to get political consensus regarding its admission to the Shenghen area.