Senate's Tariceanu: We want strong, united Europe, capable of meeting its citizens' expectations

Senate President Calin Popescu-Tariceanu, leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE, minor at rule, ed.n), pleaded on Wednesday, in Parliament, for "a stronger, united Europe", capable of meeting expectations of security and prosperity, "just as the founding fathers conceived it" according to Agerpres

"I belong to that generation, alongside my parents' generation, that had a dream. This dream was to be free of the constraints and shackles of communism. Joining the EU meant, for these generation I belong to, seeing a dream come true, namely the return and integration among the countries of the free, democratic world. The hope for prosperity and freedom, the hope of freedom of expression, of free movement and free enterprise came true once we acceded to the EU. I count myself among those who had the responsibility and honor of leading the Government during the pre-accession period and concluding the efforts for the accession preparation. Today, 11 years since the accession, we carry a great responsibility, namely exercising the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union. Romania, just like the other member countries, asks itself a simple question: What kind of Europe do we want? To this simple question we must give a simple answer. We want a strong and united Europe, capable of meeting the expectations of its citizens, expectations of security and prosperity, firstly, just as the founding fathers conceived it," Tariceanu said on Wednesday in Parliament's plenary session.

He highlighted that Parliament and Government can mutually support each other to achieving the goals they set for themselves.

"Today, Mrs prime minister presented us in detail the priorities and working program of this presidency that is incumbent on us and obviously they must be looked at in the context of the special challenges that the EU is facing today. I am referring, obviously, to the multi-annual financial framework, which will have to be discussed and agreed upon, I am referring to Brexit, to the migration crisis and, more recently, to what you see is happening in France and which is extremely worrying for all Europeans. We want to prove at this time that Parliament can actively contribute to supporting the Government in its mission and we want to show that the Government can rely on the support of Parliament for achieving the objectives it sets for itself," Tariceanu added.

The ALDE leader emphasized the necessity of abandoning the idea of a two-speed Europe for the "success of the future European project."

"I would like to emphasize the need to abandon the idea of a two-speed Europe if we want the future European project to succeed. We want a Europe of solidarity, based more on cohesion. We do not want a deepening of segregations between North and South and East and West. We do not want to allow Europe to become a Union of two groups of states, tier 1 and 2, with double standards in place, economic, political, social or of another nature. I wish to renew the invitation that you saw in the joint declaration addressed to both the Government and the President of Romania, whom we encourage to come and present us the content of discussions and decisions that will be taken during Romania's presidency, as it happens in all European Parliaments," Tariceanu also said.

The joint plenary session of the Chamber of Deputies and Senate adopted on Wednesday, with 215 votes "in favor", 8 "against" and 3 abstentions, the Declaration regarding the parliamentary dimension of the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union, that Romania will exercise between 1 January - 30 June 2019.