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Delegated Minister for European Affairs Victor Negrescu participated Wednesday in the closing ceremony of the pilot-program "Volunteers of Romania's Presidency at the Council of the European Union" and personally thanked the 38 volunteers that carried out their activity, April through June, within the Units for preparing Romania's presidency of the Council of the European Union at the EU Council, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE), informs Agerpres.
According to a press release by MAE sent to AGERPRES, the volunteers were actively involved in organizing the events that were part of "Citizen consultations concerning the future of the European Union", as well as other information actions dedicated to Romania's presidency at the Council of the EU, organized under the aegis of the "European Dialogues" campaign.
"Romania's presidency at the Council of the European Union intends to place the citizen to the fore-front, so that each Romanian can feel that this project belongs to them. In this sense, I am glad to notice that the volunteering pilot program was a success, and the participants' enthusiasm was in concordance. I will remain faithful to the principle of offering everyone who is interested the chance to participated and to contribute with their ideas in preparing and exercising Romania's presidency at the Council of the European Union, and in the following weeks we will commence admissions in order to bring a new series of volunteers, and later on we will start the official internship program of the mandate that we will take on as of 1 January 2019," Minister for European Affairs said as quoted in the press release.
Ministry for Foreign Affairs, trough the Minister-delegate for European Affairs, launched on 1 April the pilot program known as "Volunteers of Romania's presidency at the Council of the European Union", following that the volunteering activity dedicated to Romania's mandate, due to be exercised in the first semester of next year, to be further extended to other Ministries.
Romania will assume, from 1 January to 30 June 2019, the presidency of the Council of the European Union. This mandate is ensured through rotation between the EU member states, every six months. During the mandate, Romania will represent the Council of the European Union in the dialogue with other European institutions, especially the European Commission and the European Parliament, also working close with the president of the European Council during the decision making.
The rotating presidency ensures the current management of the European agenda and presiding sectorial formations of the Council to all levels (Ministerial, ambassadorial and technical), with the exception of the Council for Foreign Affairs. The presidency must act as an impartial mediator, focusing mostly on presenting proposals of compromise, capable of leading to the adoption of common positions by the member states.
