Orban, at EPP Congress in Zagreb, meets heads of gov'ts, EU officials

National Liberal Party (PNL) Chairman, Prime Minister Ludovic Orban, attended the Statutory Congress of the European People's Party (EPP) in Zagreb on Wednesday and Thursday, where he had meetings with several heads of government and senior officials of the European Union, shows a release issued by PNL on Thursday.

The PNL leader was accompanied by Vlad Nistor, PNL vice-chairperson for international relations, defense and national security, and Siegfried Muresan, vice-chairperson of the EPP Group in the European Parliament, the newly elected EPP vice-president.

"The delegation had meetings with all the important leaders of the EPP leadership. The Prime Minister congratulated Donald Tusk on obtaining the EPP Presidency and on the impressive number of supporters he had. During the bilateral meeting, the two leaders also spoke about the advance of the New Europe towards the Old Europe, taking into account the Polish nationality of the new EPP president and the good results obtained in the last European elections by the EPP member parties from Central and Eastern Europe," informs the PNL.

Together with Antonio Lopez Isturiz-White, reelected secretary general of the EPP, the PNL delegation discussed the important role played by the PNL in the EPP, in the context in which the PNL has the third largest delegation from the EPP Group in the European Parliament.

"The Prime Minister thanked Joseph Daul, during their meeting, for all the collaboration and for the efforts made to keep the big European family the most important on the continent. Last but not least, the meeting with Manfred Weber, the President of the EPP Group, was a good opportunity to discuss the priorities of the EPP Group in the current legislature and the sustained activity of the EPP MEPs in this direction," informs the said source.

The PNL leader and delegation were welcomed by the host of the congress, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, at the Government of the Croatian Republic.

During the meeting he had with the President-elect of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the PNL leader invited her to Romania in the first part of next year. Ursula von der Leyen said that she would accept the invitation and added that she expects a very good collaboration with the Romanian Commissioner, Adina Valean.

The Prime Minister had a bilateral meeting with the Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, noting the excellent relations between PNL and CDU, as well as the opportunities that Romania hopes to have in relation to Europe's most important economy.

The PNL leader also met with Greek Prime Minister and Nea Demokratia President Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Both of them agreed on the major role played by the people's parties in the region, according to the statement.

The PNL chairman and delegation also met with the Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) leader and former Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova Maia Sandu, Chancellor of the Republic of Austria, Sebastian Kurz, Acting Vice-President of the European Commission, Jyrki Katainen, Chairman of the CSU parliamentary group in the German Bundestag Alexander Dobrindt, and with the President of the Spanish People's Party, Pablo Casado, mentions the said source. AGERPRES