Although it has not yet decided in detail the priorities for the Council of the EU for the first half of 2019, Romanian deputy European affairs minister Victor Negrescu has announced that it will be citizen focused. Romania will take over the presidency of the Council of the EU on 1 January 2019 for six months, and is the first of the trio of presidencies for 2019-2020, the other two being Finland and Croatia.
Calling for integration before a small group of reporters, including from this newsletter, in Bucharest, the minister said that this did not necessarily mean a greater role for the Commission but greater cooperation among member states on important issues and subjects of importance to citizens, because the EU must go more in the direction of what citizens expect of us. He explained that they want the EU to do more in domains such as education and healthcare, even though the EU has little power in this regard. We believe we must talk about all the important aspects in the view of Europeans, he said, wanting an open debate with citizens and planning to organise European Convention type debates of the type proposed by French president Emmanuel Macron.
The minister wants to democratise access to the EU and access to information about it. He said he wanted to give access to European information to all citizens not just experts in the European bubble. Romania is a pro-European country, he said, but admitted that information needs to be better transmitted to citizens.
The country will be involved in choosing the presidency’s priorities. Negrescu said consultation would begin in the next few days to fine tune the priorities. He has already suggested a four-pronged approach: economic convergence and growth; security issues and security in Europe; foreign relations, EU action in the world including trade issues; and EU values be it dialogue with citizens or greater unity of the member states. Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu said Brexit and the migration crisis should be seen as opportunities to reconcile the EU with its values.
As a symbol of citizen participation, the creation of the logo for the presidency and its designation have been put out to a competition involving the public. The presidency has decided to organise meetings throughout the country during its six months in office. Meetings of ministers will take place in Bucharest, in the famous Ceausescu palace and a summit will be organised in May 2019 in Sibiu. A presidency is not just a matter for ministers or governments, but for citizens too, explained Negrescu.
A presidency set against a complex backdrop
The presidency will be working at a complicated time: the United Kingdom is due to leave the EU and European elections are due to be held in the first half of 2019. However, Negrescu said that the European elections, which will take place at the end of the presidency’s term of office, should not have too great an impact on the presidency. The European Commission will also be reaching the end of its term of office and may be tempted to push its final priorities forward insistently. It is, for example, in the first half of 2019 that the budget Commissioner, Günther Oettinger, wants negotiations to be completed on the upcoming multiannual financial framework.
Negrescu said that in order to agree on the next MFF, an assessment of the annual framework will need to be made. He said that the Balkan states could contribute more to the EU budget. The minister said he is not in favour of multiplying funds outside the budget, like the Juncker funds, preferring control by citizens, notably via the European Parliament, of which the minister was a member from July 2014 to June 2017. The minister opposed the idea of a special budget for the eurozone, explaining that there was just one European Union, in which the member states should consider themselves equal.
Polishing the family silver
The future Romanian presidency may provide an opportunity to boost Romania’s role in decision-making and restore its image, which some feel has been tarnished. When the UK leaves the EU, Romania will become the sixth biggest member state in terms of population, with its 20 million inhabitants. We want to make use of our presidency to talk more about the EU, about our position in the EU, explained Negrescu. We have been in the EU for 10 years but even after 10 years, many people see our country as a new member state, but we are no longer new after 10 years. We should start to get more involved at European level, particularly in the decision-making process, he added.
The Romanian president’s advisor on European affairs and former European Commissioner, Leonard Orban, said that although Romania did not have a very important role, it did have a role and was, in general, a very pro-European country. He said what they wanted was consolidation of the EU - a stronger and deeper EU. He said this was seen at European level but the country still did not have such a wonderful image. Orban said that 10 years after joining the EU, some stereotypes still existed in the European institutions or member states. He said that sometimes there was concern that it was a poor country that had joined the EU too soon. He said the country’s image had an impact on the decision-making process. He regretted that some people were harder on Romania than they were on other countries.
Work will be needed to improve the image of the country, but also the image of its politicians. Demonstrations are taking place in Romania against a current reform of the judicial system. 12,000 people demonstrated throughout the country on 10 December against the reform, which they say jeopardises the independence of the justice system and work to tackle corruption. A Bucharest-based journalist said the concerns were not so much about the law itself but rather due to lack of confidence among the general public in the people who drew it up. On 11 December, the lower chamber of the Romanian parliament adopted the law in first reading, which alters the supervision of magistrates and the process of appointing public prosecutors. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)