Romania is an economic success story, and the city of Cluj is, in a way, the Silicon Valley of Europe, European People's Party (EPP) president Manfred Weber said in Bucharest on Wednesday, while president of the EPP Group in the European Committee of the Regions Olgierd Geblewicz said that in his future mandate, the EPP will put villages, cities and regions at the heart of Europe, told Agerpres.
The two officials took part in a joint press conference alongside National Liberal Party (PNL) MEP Siegfried Muresan and the mayor of Cluj-Napoca, Emil Boc, after a joint meeting of the EPP Group in the European Parliament and the EPP Group at the European Committee of the Regions, ahead of the EPP Congress in Bucharest on Wednesday and Thursday, told Agerpres.
We have the largest group in the European Parliament and in the Committee of the Regions. We are strong at local and European level. And we do this as a team, through joint efforts, Weber said.
In Romania, I see a success story. When you drive through Bucharest, you see the positive developments of the last years and decades, especially under the leadership of the PNL (...) Romania is an economic success story. Revenues are growing, daily life is getting better, Weber added.
He welcomed the presence at the meeting and the conference of Emil Boc, mayor of a city, Cluj, which is, in a way, the Silicon Valley of Europe.
Serious issues await us. War, peacekeeping, a key element for us in Europe, that's why we are close to our citizens in the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, said the German politician.
We want to keep our European societies united. We need prosperity, we need to build bridges between cities and rural areas, and that is what the EPP is doing, Weber stressed.
In his turn, Polish Olgierd Geblewicz, chairman of the EPP Group in the European Committee of the Regions, said that the EPP is unique because it is the only European party that takes local and regional leaders seriously.
In Europe there are 300 regions and almost 90,000 municipalities. In the vast majority of them we are in power. That is why we are the strongest group in the European Committee of the Regions, we can be an added value for the party in the run-up to the elections. We will participate in the campaign, we will support the candidates for the European Parliament and the future President [of the European Commission - editor's note], he said.
In the next mandate, we want to put villages, towns and regions at the heart of Europe. 70 percent of European legislation is implemented at local level, in towns and regions, Geblewicz added.