Romanian Senate Speaker Crin Antonescu paid an official visit to Switzerland over September 17-19.
Romanian Senate Speaker Crin Antonescu said on Wednesday in Switzerland that the officials of this state have promised an “indirect support” for Romania’s accession to Schegen, given that this country does not have a direct vote.
Antonescu was on an official visit to Switzerland, where he met with the heads of the two chambers of the Swiss Parliament and Filippo Lombardi, the President of the Council of States of the Swiss Confederation.
“They promised us that they will indirectly support us because they don’t have vote for the Schengen accession (…) I reiterated arguments, I told them what Romania has made in order to be considered as having the right to enter the Schegen zone, I told them how I much we spent, how much we invested. From the discussions we had today we were promised the indirect support for this goal,” said Antonescu according to Mediafax.
The Senate Speaker met, during his visit, the President of the Swiss Confederation, Ueli Maurer. “Switzerland is an important investor in Romania and we want the political and cultural relations to rise to the level of the economic ones too. We want Romania to become better known in the Swiss Confederation, we want to strengthen our relationship and coordinate our actions related to topics of a common interest,” Crin Antonescu stated.
The President of the Swiss Confederation appreciated the progress made by Romania in the field of economic and political stability, considering that this progress creates the premises for an intensification of contacts at economic, political and cultural level.
Antonescu, who ended the three-day official visit to Switzerland on Thursday, underlined that parliamentary diplomacy can contribute to strengthening the economic and political relations between the two states, according to Agerpres.
The Senate speaker stressed that the activity of the parliamentary friendship group between Romania and Switzerland can give more visibility to the investments already existing in Romania and boost their development.
He thanked his Swiss counterpart for the constant support Switzerland has rendered Romania as part of the Swiss Government’s Programme for economic and technical support in favour of the Eastern European countries starting in 1990 – the Swiss Cohesion Fund earmarked for Romania.
Lombardi announced that a friendship group was also set up in the Swiss parliament earlier this week. He commended the fact Romania has made visible progress on the external borders security and added that Switzerland, though not having a voting right, voices readiness to insist with the Schengen Area states in favor of Romania’s as fast as possible accession to the borderless space.
The setting up of the Romania-Switzerland Parliamentary Friendship Group, the role of the parliaments in politics and the need to draw new investors to Romania were the main topics tackled by visiting Romanian Senate Speaker Crin Antonescu at a meeting with Speaker of the Swiss Lower House of Parliament (National Council) Maya Graaf on Wednesday.
