Romania’s will to channel its efforts with a view to best capitalize the considerable potential of the Romanian-British Strategic Partnership both at political and economic levels has been voiced in Bucharest on Wednesday during the talks between President Iohannis and the British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond.
According to the Presidential Administration, the two officials expressed their appreciation to the quality of the bilateral cooperation in security and defence, and encouraged its deepening and intensification.
President Klaus Iohannis reiterated the necessity for the UK to fully implement the principle of free circulation of persons, according to EU treaties’ provisions.
Iohannis: Romania will continue to make sure that the rights of the Romanian citizens, as European citizens, are fully observed
“To this respect, Romania will continue to make sure, alongside the European Commission and in its dialogue with all the EU members states that the rights of the Romanian citizens, as European citizens, are fully observed,” the Presidential Administration says, stressing that Romania appreciated the constant support by the Great Britain to its accession to the Schengen area.
Klaus Iohannis also underlined that the European Union is “a successful project and that, through unity and solidarity, the member states could face any difficulties.”
Mr. Hammond’s visit to Bucharest is part of a tour in every European Union member state that has been ordered to him by PM David Cameron to build support for major reform of Brussels, before the general election to take place on May 7, with Parliament due to be dissolved on March 30.
According to the Daily Mail newspaper, the British Prime Minister wants Mr Hammond to hold talks with every member state to set out Tory demands for change.
Mr Hammond has so far crossed off top-level talks with a major part of EU countries, but has barely 75 days left until the general election is called at the end of March to build an alliance in support of clawing powers back from Brussels.
“Mr Cameron has promised that if he is still Prime Minister after the election he will renegotiate Britain’s membership of the EU before holding an in-out referendum by 2017.He used a major in November to set out key demands on banning EU nationals from claiming in-work benefits or social housing in Britain for four years, deporting jobless migrants if they do not get work for six months and refusing to allow other countries to join the EU without imposing controls on the movement of their workers until their economies have reached UK levels.The PM made clear he plans to form alliances with leaders in central and eastern Europe who have lost their ‘brightest and best’ to Britain.When Mr Hammond was appointed as Foreign Secretary in July he was told by Mr Cameron to travel to every EU country to present the Tory reform plans and to discuss ‘shared issues’,” wrote www.dailymail.co.uk
The UK salutes Romania’s commitment to implement the Summit of Wales decisions on increasing the Defence budget
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond saluted Romania’s commitment to increase the Defence budget, so it can reach 2 per cent of the GDP, saying that protecting the country represented the foremost duty of any government.
Both states are active NATO members and we salute the commitment the Romanian Government made to implement the decisions of the Summit of Wales concerning the increase of the Defence budget to 2 per cent of the GDP. Defending the country is the outmost duty of any government, Hammond told a joint press conference with his Romanian counterpart Bogdan Aurescu.
The British official underscored that the two states would collaborate in order to make sure that NATO fulfills the commitments made in the Summit of Wales.
The UK has a very solid bilateral strategic relation with Romania. We have an excellent cooperation in the defence and security area and growing economic exchanges, Philip Hammond added.
He said that Bucharest and London would work together inside the EU to make sure the Union remains united and strong in maintaining the sanctions against Russia until this state no longer tries to change the map of Europe by military force.
Aurescu: Labour mobility has positive economic effects on the GDP of the country they work in
Romania and Bulgaria, countries to be visited successively by Hammond, are perhaps the most sensitive to the UK’s immigration plans. Raising employment restrictions for Bulgarian and Romanian on 1 January 2014, triggered hysteria among Britons worried about the prospect of an “invasion” of Eastern Europe. However, predictions and worries by many British politicians, were contradicted by the figures of a study published in December by the Migration Observatory, showing that the number of Romanian immigrants has remained constant after lifting the restrictions on the labour market.
In this context, Romanian Foreign Affairs Minister Bogdan Aurescu told the joint press conference with his British counterpart Philip Hammond that labour mobility has positive economic effects on the GDP of the country they work in and contributes to the economic growth of the state in question and of the EU economy in general. He also said that Romania pleads for settling the domestic market, including by completely guaranteeing the labour force free movement.
In context, Aurescu hailed the ‘ascending trend’ of the Romanian-British relations in the political area.
‘From an economic stand, I want to mention that last year, until September, we registered 2,576.4 million euro commercial exchanges with a trade balance in Romania’s favour worth 618.69 million euros. I have voiced my and the Romanian authorities’ intention to strengthen our bilateral relations in the context of the potential of the strategic partnership. We have also tackled the economic, social, political and security challenges we are confronted with in the European Union, for which a comprehensive response through coordinated efforts on a European level is needed,’ Bogdan Aurescu added.
Photo: www.presidency.ro
