Associate Professor Octavian-Dragomir Jora of the International Economic Relations Faculty of the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies declared on Monday to agerpres that Romania's assumption of the Presidency of the EU Council in 2019 is a chance to improve the country's image, since managing the UE's agenda represents "a unique moment, one of opportunity and challenge".
"In perspective, holding the EU Council's Presidency in the first semester of 2019, Romania has to adjust with intelligence and wisdom the two fibers which can durably exist only interlaced, using its political decision-making structures and evidently with an open and competent popular consultation. The first is outlining the oft-invoked "country project". It does not have to represent a simple piece of 'literature', filled with the intellectual infatuation of the contributors and the documents' custodians, but a two-directional educational exercise (between the decision-making and reflecting elites, on the one hand, and the public, on the other hand) and a sincere discovery of 'national interest'. In my opinion, this is the best known 'unknown' of the domestic public discourse. Is the most cited unread idea, undocumented by the authorities and their advisors. The second one is this administrative exercise, of institutional maturity: the Presidency of EU Council. Addressed responsibly and rigorously, it can have the benefit of improving Romania's image of exotic and erratic presence in the European picture, because managing the EU agenda represents a unique moment of opportunity and challenge" Octavian-Dragomir Jora stated.
He has specified that we should not be naive to believe that holding this mandate equals to "leading" the European Union, but is essential for Romania to introduce "the Romanian accents in the main European topics".
"(...) I believe that the legitimate interest of Romania is to maintain the assumed balance between freedom of movement and action for Romanians in the EU, on the one side, and obligations to respect the EU nations for the given public resources, on the other side, using these correctly and efficiently. Namely to continue building Romania's and Europe's correctly understood freedom and prosperity. It is a legitimate topic of a rotative European mandate, but especially a national long-term project" Jora underscored.
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