PM Dancila: About presidency of Council of EU, I believe the main problem of Romania was misinformation

Prime Minister Viorica Dancila said that there was a lot of misinformation regarding Romania at European level, and the main problem was that some people argued our country was not ready to take over the presidency of the Council of EU.

"Unfortunately, there was a lot [of misinformation regarding Romania existed at European level - editor's note] and I think this was the main problem of Romania. Not the fact that Romania wasn't prepared, because it was. And not the fact that Romania isn't able to solve important issues at European level, but the fact that some people said that it isn't able and came with these misinformations. What is unfortunate is that many of these misinformations come from Romania, from members of the European Parliament, and we cannot forget they were not only misinformations They were MEPs who voted against Romania. Even when we presented the priorities of the presidency, almost all MEPs expected a constructive debate based on solutions, drawing on methods of cooperation as close as possible between the groups political," Dancila told Antena 3 private television broadcaster.

She added that the negative things that "shadowed" the image of the Romanian presidency came from the Romanian MEPs in the European People's Party (EPP) group. In his opinion, those who do "such things should be ashamed," because they were voted by Romanians to defend and represent this country.

"And this was upsetful. And not just for us. They were many MEPs whom I met and told me they were upset." "It's a shame what happened," they said. For it was without precedent to see how MEPs representing Romania came up with such accusations, statements," added the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister mentioned that Romania needs to finalize many files in a shorter period than usual.

"When others had six months, we must by the end of March try to finish everything we have on the table, prioritize the goals depending on the reality at European level and, at the same time, to try to change the image for the rotating presidency held by Romania (...) We all know that before taking over the Council of EU presidency it was said that we could not have positive results, that we were not prepared. If you remember, it was even a proposal of Finland to take over the presidency in our place, (...) if we were not prepared after all ... Well, these things have been induced from inside the country, the proposal did not come from nowhere. It was related to certain statements, even the statement of President Klaus Iohannis," explained Dancila.

According to her, "regardless of the internal situation", internal problems shouldn't be exported at European or international level.

"Both Jean Claude-Juncker and the other leaders have not seen a situation similar to Romania in another member state. I have not seen any member state in which members of the EP, regardless of the political group, accuse their own country, vote against their own country, misinform, they come up with things that harm the image of their country. It was a special situation and all these things have affected us a lot," she added.

The Prime Minister said that during less than a month the representatives of Romania participated in 40 trialogues on important files in various fields. She added that several European MEPs said they were "very pleased with the ministers' performance, with the manner in which they approached important topics," and also on the manner in which they saw cooperation with the EP and the EC.

"After the presentation of the priorities after the exchange of views between the cabinet ministers and the specialized commissions, after the opening of the rotating presidency in Bucharest, at the Romanian Athenaeum, after the discussions in the College of Commissioners, after the discussions with the presidents of the European Parliament, the European Council and the European Commission, things have changed a lot. Now I even talked to a number of MEPs, with many European officials who told me that we are working hard, that we are very vigorous and very determined indeed, they have seen that there is much determination from Romania to show that we can have a successful presidency and that for the first time there is a desire to get involved all those who can put their fingerprint on the files on the European agenda but also in terms of the future of the EU," said Viorica Dancila.