Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan said on Monday, during a plenary session of the Senate, that the simple motion on the Mercosur Agreement is based on "false premises", arguing that it concerns 'an economic treaty which, like anything in life, comes with both risks and opportunities'.
"The motion starts from a number of false premises: first, that the decision was allegedly taken in secrecy, and second, that this decision regarding Mercosur is against Romania's interests. I will not dwell on political statements, but will point out a few things to dismantle these false premises," Bolojan said.
According to the Prime Minister, the signatories of the motion only claim to know what is wrong, without offering real solutions.
"The entire construction of the motion's text seems to suggest that its signatories only learned about this agreement with the Mercosur countries when the European Union announced the conclusion of negotiations. The reality is that this agreement, one of the most extensive trade agreements in the world, has been under negotiation since before Romania became a member of the European Union. The motion claims that we are condemned to cling to a European locomotive, trailing behind it like a poor freight wagon. The factual truth is that, for a time, we were also in the driver's cab of that locomotive. In 2019, when Romania held the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, we announced at the end of our mandate that negotiations with the Mercosur countries had been concluded," Bolojan recalled.
He added that Romania contributed to the preparation of the three negotiation rounds that took place during the six-month period of its presidency.
"At the end of last year, on 19 December, after the European Council, when President Nicusor Dan announced that Romania supports this agreement, there was silence. No one expressed concern, there were no political statements. Let us be clear: this is an economic treaty which, like anything in life, involves risks and opportunities. Our objective is to manage the risks and maximise the opportunities, and I can understand the reservations expressed by the holder of the agriculture portfolio regarding the risk component, because there could indeed be certain risks," he added.
According to Bolojan, following steps taken by Romania at the end of last year and the beginning of this year, "this treaty has gained several additional control mechanisms at the eleventh hour, precisely in order to protect the European market".
In this context, he referred to "serious and frequent controls on food products coming from Mercosur countries", so that Romania can ensure that imported food is produced to the same high quality standards as those applied within the European Union.
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