European Council President Herman van Rompuy, visiting Bucharest yesterday, met with President Basescu and PM Victor Ponta.
President Traian Basescu said after his talks with the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, on Thursday, that he had discussed with his guest a ‘strategy’ for removing Romania from the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) after December. ‘In my talks to the president I also addressed matters of direct interest to Romania, the Schengen issue, the CVM dossier and the consideration, after December, of a procedure, a strategy for exiting the mechanism,’ Basescu said. New CVM reports on Romania and Bulgaria will be presented in December this year.
Prime Minister Victor Ponta said, at the end of March, that he would send European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso a letter asking for concrete points and targets for Romania to meet in order for the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) to be lifted. Also in March, in a debate in the European parliament, the USL MEPs asked for a time table for the conclusion of the monitoring of Romania and Bulgaria under the CVM, but the representative of the Commission answered the Mechanism would continue as planned.
At the same time, during his talks to Van Rompuy, Traian Basescu stressed the fact that Romania had successfully restored macroeconomic balances, being one of the first countries coming out of the excessive deficit procedure. He pointed out that Romania is one of the first countries that managed to come out of the excessive deficit procedure. “It was the result of difficult, extremely difficult measures that I and the Boc Government assumed in May 2010. But I’m telling Romanians today that they can be proud that Romania has returned where its place is credibility-wise, namely among the states that spend reasonably.
I wanted to underline Romania’s success in re-establishing macro-economic balances and I mentioned, basing on Eurostat latest releases, that the budgetary deficit is lowered and Romania fulfills the criteria of exiting the excessive deficit procedure,” Basescu said.President Traian Basescu signed, on April 16, a decree through which he confers to European Council President Herman van Rompuy the “Romanian Star” National Order for the support he gave to Romania, the distinction being awarded at the proposal of Foreign Affairs Minister Titus Corlatean. “As a sign of high appreciation for the constant support given to Romania on her road to integrate in the fundamental structures of the European Union, for the vision and abnegation in defining, promoting and achieving the priorities and European construction, President Traian Basescu has conferred the “Romanian Star” Grand Cross National Order to His Excellency Mr. Herman van Rompuy, President of the European Council,” a Presidency communiqué reads. Herman van Rompuy’s previous visit to Bucharest took place on April 2012, back when he gave a speech in Parliament.
After meeting President Basescu the President of the European Council was due to meet Premier Victor Ponta.
