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Prime Minister Viorica Dancila believes that Romania will have an ambitious but realistic approach to the EU Council's rotating presidency, trying to solve as many as possible of the 257 files currently under work.
"I am optimistic after today's discussions. I am convinced that we will manage many of the problems well, I am convinced that what we have set out we will largely succeed in bringing to an end and I even told our colleagues, the Commissioners, that I see this approach ambitious but also realistic. Ambitious because at the moment there are 257 files - we cannot solve so many files, we will prioritize them (...) - but at the same time realistic, because we must have an approach of impartial mediator, facilitator of balance and consensus. We will have to seek consensus on certain things that have divided the views at the European level very much," Viorica Dancila said on Wednesday in an interview with private TV station Antena 3 in Brussels after the talks she had, together with the members of the Government, with European officials in the College of Commissioners.
The prime minister added that the EU Council Presidency is not only an attribute of the Government, it is the attribute of Romania, our country being prepared for taking over the mandate.
Premier Dancila believes that the rotating Presidency of the EU Council, which will be taken over by Romania on 1 January, will not be influenced by the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) on justice in our country.
"I think the rotating presidency will not be influenced by the CVM," Dancila said in Brussels on Wednesday in the same interview with Antena 3.
Viorica Dancila stated in the said interview that European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker stressed in the discussions that the CVM should not be linked to the accession to the Schengen area, that Romania fulfills the accession criteria and that all the steps will be taken for our country to become a member of the Schengen area and for the CVM to be renounced at.
