Romanian PM Viorica Dancila has presented the priorities of the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union before the European Parliament’s plenary session in Strasbourg on Tuesday, stating that all actions taken by the EU bodies must report to the citizens of the member states, also saying that the delay on Romania’s accession to the Schengen space is seen as “an inequity” by the Romanians.
“The fourth pillar of the Romanian Presidency of the EU Council will be the Europe of common values. In order to stimulate the European political cohesion we aim at intensely promoting the principles and values that unite us. At the same time, we must strongly counter some problems that the societies within the EU are still facing, such as racism, intolerance, xenophobia, populism, antisemitism or the hate speech,” the Romanian PM said.
She also referred to the delay of Romania’s Schengen accession.
“Despite their strong attachment to the Union, Romanians feel an unequal treatment against Romania when our country is criticised for some aspects that are natural in other member states or when Romania is imposed certain conditionalities that don’t exist in other EU states. Romanians feel inequity when seeing their country is being held outside Schengen (…)”, Dancila argued.
The head of the Romanian Executive also pointed out that the EU Council Presidency exercise is not just a formal duty, but that “it is important to show the European citizens that the EU institutions work for them.”