BRUSSELS: Romania wants the European Union (EU) council to maintain a sizeable long-term budget, protect cohesion and agricultural funding, and accelerate membership negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova, President Nicușor Dan said on Thursday.
Romania is coordinating with Italy in the Friends of Cohesion group as EU member states debated the bloc’s next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), the long-term budget that determines spending priorities in October 15-16 summit here.
The Global Envoy’s Rohan Dua was present to report on this summit.
“The points of interest for us are that the budget of the union should be reasonably large. No cuts particularly on Cohesion and Agriculture, also on Competitiveness,” Dan added.
Asked how Romania could persuade more fiscally cautious EU countries to support its position, Dan pointed to the backing within the Friends of Cohesion group.
“The fact that 17 out of 27 states are in agreement is very important,” he said. “Our discussion this morning was meant to preserve unity between these states.”
The budget negotiations come as EU governments face competing demands for funding, including regional development, agriculture, competitiveness and security.
Push to advance Ukraine and Moldova
Alongside the budget debate, Dan said Romania wanted to accelerate the accession processes of Ukraine and Moldova, with a particular focus on opening negotiating clusters 4 and 5.
“Together with Italy, we are coordinating the Friends of Cohesion group,” he said, adding that Romania was interested in seeing clusters 4 and 5 opened “in a relatively short period”.
Dan also said Bucharest wanted a direct discussion on the expectations of individual EU member states regarding enlargement.
“I want a very direct discussion on enlargement and the expectations of each state in order to open all clusters,” he said of Moldova’s accession process. “I am optimistic on the opening.”
Asked whether the EU should eventually use qualified majority voting (QMV) to decide on opening negotiating clusters, Dan said, “It’s an idea for the future. For now, we are focused on opening 4 and 5 this year.”
Minority rights and Ukraine
Dan also addressed Romania’s concerns over the rights of Romanian-speaking communities in Ukraine, particularly in education.
He welcomed changes to Ukraine’s education legislation, describing the law as a significant step forward, while saying that issues remained at the local level.
“We think the education law is a big step forward. We have a significant minority in Ukraine. There are issues in schools inside communities,” he said.
Dan said Romania had a good experience with Ukraine’s national administration but a less satisfactory one with local authorities.
“With the recently passed laws, the weight of the national administration is bigger, so we are on the right track,” he said.
Romania’s position combines support for closer European integration with a push to protect the interests of its own regions and minority communities.
Dan said the immediate priorities were to preserve cohesion and agricultural funding in the EU budget and to advance the accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova.
