Radio România Internațional

Tag: Minister Delegate for European Affairs Ana Birchall

  • Romania prepares for its first EU Council presidency

    Romania prepares for its first EU Council presidency

    Romania has
    started making preparations for its first EU Council presidency in the first
    six months of 2019. The government in Bucharest has established a national
    council for the preparation and exercise of Romania’s EU Council presidency, an
    action plan has been adopted and the foreign ministry has set up a special unit
    to work on this project. At a debate held on Wednesday by the foreign ministry,
    the participants assessed the context in which Romania will carry out its term,
    which will see new European Parliament elections, the UK’s leaving the European Union and
    negotiations on the next multi-annual financial framework. The Minister
    Delegate for European Affairs Ana Birchall said the presidency of the European
    Union was a national project for Romania.

    Ana Birchall: We will have to ensure a professional management and demonstrate our ability
    to propose compromise solutions that are acceptable for the member states and
    the Union’s institutions. We will have the opportunity to demonstrate our
    support for the European values and contribute directly to the consolidation
    process.


    The Eastern
    Partnership and the organisation of a summit in Romania, the Danube strategy
    and migration to the European Union are some of the issues Romania must cover
    during its presidency, said foreign minister Teodor Melescanu. He also pointed
    out that there are logistical problems related to the taking over of the rotating
    presidency, which would require the support of a number of state institutions,
    given that Romania will have to host hundreds of meetings, which is also an
    opportunity to promote the country’s political vision on the future of Europe.

    Prime minister Sorin Grindeanu too believes Romania has the opportunity to come
    with a new, dynamic approach that could help relaunch the European project
    during its EU Council presidency. According to the senate speaker Calin Popescu
    Tariceanu, Romania will benefit from more exposure during its 6-month
    presidency and must demonstrate that it is creative, energetic, modern and
    pro-European.


    Calin Popescu Tariceanu: Let us not forget that we are the seventh biggest country in the European
    Union so we must try to give our presidency a dimension that befits our country
    – we should neither try to be more than what we are and try to impress, nor see
    ourselves smaller than we are in reality.


    The debate in Bucharest was also attended by the
    ambassadors of Finland and Croatia, which will take over the EU rotating
    presidency after Romania.

  • 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.