Romania needs tight cooperation with its MEPs to promote its mandate to EU Council's presidency

Romania needs tight cooperation with its MEPs, social actors' support to promote country's mandate of EU Council's presidency, the Minister-delegate for European Affairs Victor Negrescu, on a working visit Wednesday in Brussels voiced, according to a release by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE). 

Minister-delegate Negrescu had a meeting with the chairman of the European Economic and Social Committee Luca Jahier, and participated in two political events hosted by the new seat of the Permanent Representation of Romania attached to the European Union: a round table with members of the Romanian delegation in the European Parliament and the release of the 'Current challenges in cyber security - impact and Romania's contribution in the field' study, carried out by the European Institute in Romania within the 'Strategy and Policies Studies 2017" project. 

Talks revolved around the evolution of the preparation process regarding the taking over by Romania of the presidency of the Council of the European Union, the Minister-delegate reviewing the main dimensions of the working agenda of the mandate our country will perform, as a first, in the first six months of 2019. 

The four thematic pillars underpinning the working agenda of Romania's presidency of the EU Council are targeting 'Europe of convergence: growth, cohesion, competitiveness, connectivity', 'Europe of safety', 'Europe, global actor' and 'Common values' Europe', the release reads. 

The Romanian dignitary emphasized the role played by Romania's representatives with the European Economic and Social Committee and the members of the European Parliament within the consultation process on the themes of interest of Romania's presidency to the EU Council, but also by other mouthpieces of the trade unions, employers' associations, academic and associative milieus, through both the proposals they forward and through an active, constant participation in the debates with the 'EU-RO 2019' Forum, all of the contributions being subsequently integrated in the reflection process unfolded to substantiate the working programme of Romania's presidency of the Council of the European Union. 

'We'd like the project of Romania's presidency of the Council of the European Union to bring together, under the aegis of the common interest, the ensemble of the political and institutional decision-makers as well as the entire society in its entirety. We aim to be effective, and our efforts will focus on advancing files that can bring tangible results for citizens. In this respect we count on a tight cooperation with the Romanian members of the European Parliament and the support of the social actors in promoting Romania's mandate to the EU Council, being certain that our dialogue and collaboration will significantly contribute to the process of re-boosting the debates on European topics,' Victor Negrescu said, as cited in the release. 

The minister-delegate also mentioned that one of the themes of interest Romania will promote in the first half of 2019 refers to the cyber security culture in the European Union. 

'In a world of accelerated digitization, Romania is interested in working on the topic of protecting the citizens in the virtual space. Cyber security is no longer an option. The cyberattacks have become more and more complex, targeting various activity sectors, even critical infrastructures such as energy, transports, health care, so that cybernetics is a key-priority for the future of the European Union. In context, if Romania has so far been a competent human resource provider in cyber security, our country can become an exporter of solutions for the public policies that are being conceived today at European level,' Negrescu asserted.