#Romania2019.eu/Ciamba: Romania has had achievements at EU Council Presidency, demonstrated it has no problem being at head of table

Romania has had achievements at the Presidency of the Council of the European Union with better results than expected, demonstrating that it has no problem to be "at the head of the table", Minister-delegate for European Affairs George Ciamba declared for AGERPRES. 

"As Presidency, the most important thing is that we have had achievements. I think we have even better results than our expectations, we are not talking about the expectations of others. And this has been acknowledged. Let us not forget that in the last two days we have had an outpouring of acknowledgments on behalf of the European families, of the European Council leaders, the commissioners, the chairpersons of the committees, we have had a host of congratulations for the Romanian Presidency. It has been characterized as an energetic, combative , results-oriented Presidency, and I think this is the most important one. Let us not forget that by what we have managed to do we will influence the future of Europe and especially the perception of the European citizen about Europe," said George Ciamba. 

The Minister-delegate for European Affairs mentioned several objectives achieved by Romania, the Gas Directive, the regulations on combating misinformation, but also the conclusions of the Foreign Affairs Council on the EU's commitment to regional cooperation in the Black Sea region, mentioning that many things have also been carried out in the areas of digitization and the single market. 

"The Romanian Presidency has done a lot of things on non-legislative topics, on informal councils, on events that it organized, on institutional counseling," added Ciamba. 

The Minister stressed that the Presidency of Romania at the EU Council has "a very good track record on the strategic side". 

"I think we have succeeded in passing through a wide range of things, such as increasing the staff of the FRONTEX Coast Guard to 10,000 people, a very important issue. Socially, we have done enough, we have succeeded in putting on track and setting up the European Labor Agency during our term. (...) We have succeeded in having a very clear regulation on the political parties' ban on using personal data that have been collected for commercial purposes, a very important item. It is a very good Presidency, the fact that we have had a a successful summit in Sibiu, the fact that we had European elections that have had a positive result. We cannot talk any longer, the way we used to at the beginning of the year, about the dangers and things that can happen in Europe. What also counted was that we have adopted a more ambitious strategic agenda. For the rest, in each field, every minister, every high-ranking official can explain in their area of expertise what has been done," Ciamba added. 

The Minister-delegate for European Affairs also referred to the actions of the Romanian Presidency on Brexit. 

"We were able to prepare Europe for any shock that would come in the case of Brexit, I refer to the no-deal withdrawal of the UK exit, I am referring to any shock. The fact that the entire European legislation is already adopted, I think it is a very important point for the EU, even if the deadline is no longer in the Romanian Presidency, but in the presidency to come - Finland's Presidency, there is practically nothing else to do, everything that needed to be done has been done so as to protect the EU from the consequences of a no-deal exit, to be put into practice and legislated, so this has been the preoccupation of our Presidency. Even though we did not have a Brexit, we always had the Brexit ghost next to us and that was one thing that has guided our actions," he went on to say. 

George Ciamba pointed out that it was "a not very easy Presidency", adding that there were also tense situations. 

"We also had more tense situations when it came to some laws where the interests were very high. It was very good that we managed to overcome them, and I think this shows our administrative capacity, it shows, at the same time, that Romania has demonstrated that it has no problem with being at the head of the table and putting its skills and craft at work to do things that other presidencies have not done. At the same time, we have demonstrated the importance of neutrality," the minister-delegate for European Affairs concluded. 

Romania has held the Presidency of the Council of the European Union for the first time since joining the EU in the first semester of 2019, from 1 January to 30 June.