President Klaus Iohannis to participate in extraordinary meeting of European Council

President Klaus Iohannis on Thursday participates in the extraordinary meeting of the European Council in Brussels, where discussions will focus on the Multiannual Financial Framework of the European Union for 2021-2027, according to a press release of the Presidential Administration.

The objective of the extraordinary meeting is to reach an agreement among the Member States on the future budget of the Union, based on the proposal presented on February 14 by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel.

"At the meeting, President Klaus Iohannis will underline Romania's readiness to contribute to the advancement of negotiations to reach, as soon as possible, an agreement on the future European budget," reads the same source.

The head of state will present the priorities of Romania in relation to the future budget of the Union.

"President Klaus Iohannis will reaffirm Romania's support for an ambitious budget, preferably at the level proposed by the European Commission, given that new, more ambitious objectives have been added. Also, the President will continue to plead for an adequate funding of the Cohesion Policy and of the Common Agricultural Policy, stressing that our country must benefit from consistent allocations for these two policies, as tools aimed at reducing the development gaps among Member States," said the same source.

The head of state will also support the importance of providing flexible and simplified implementation conditions, which will allow beneficiaries easier access to European funds.

On February 7, President Klaus Iohannis met with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, to discuss the EU's multiannual budget. The meeting was part of the series of meetings that the President of the European Council had with the leaders of the Member States in preparing the extraordinary meeting of the European Council on February 20, where they are to negotiate the future multi-annual EU budget.

Prior to the meeting, the head of state said he was determined to negotiate "really hard" for Romania to obtain as much money as possible from the funds for cohesion and the common agricultural policy from the multiannual budget of the European Union.