Simra Kiyani
Ambassador of Romania H.E Nicolae Goia hosted a grand reception on The Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union 1st of January -30th to June 2019 at Serena Hotels on 24 Jan 2018. High Commissioner of U.K Mr. Thomas Drew and Ambassador of E.U Jean-François Cautain, Ambassador of Germany Martin Kobler, Ambassador of France Marc Barety, Ambassador of Poland Piotr A Opalinski and other European Union countries attended the reception.
Government of Pakistan was represented by Deputy Chairman Senate Salim Mandvi Wala, Senator Dr Shahzad Waseem, Mayor Islamabad Ansar Aziz, Additional Secretary of Foreign Affairs Ministry Zaheer Janjua.
Ambassador Nicolae Gia in his speech said that we hope UK will come back to E.U as UK has a big role in Europe and the World. If this does not happen , we hope that a solution will be sought to maintain stronger cooperation with UK.
Ambassador of E.U congratulated Ambassador of Romania and expressed his confidence in the leadership of Romania. He hoped that Romania Presidency will meet the challenges accordingly.
Zaheer Janjua said that Romania Presidency is important for Pakistan as well. Pakistan enjoys very cordial relations with Romania and E.U is a major economic partner of Pakistan.
Here is the full text of the speech delivered by Ambassador of Romania;
The first Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union is to take place against a backdrop of a large-scale developments that will determine the shape of the Union in the decades to come: the reflection of the future of the European Union; the United Kingdome’s process of leaving the EU; the transition toward a new legislative cycle as a result of European election in May 2019, and implicitly the end of the present European Commission and European Parliament’s terms of office; Multi annual Financial Framework’s negotiations which is a flagship file for our Presidency; the informal EU summit in Sibiu. All these are challenges but opportunities at the same time.
Brexit. a major challenge during our Presidency takes the European Union into a new reality, solutions will be found that this will be orderly managed and the unity of EU27, not only maintained but strengthen while striking for strong and close future relations with UK.
During its six month mandate, Romania has the chance to prove its strong support for advancing with the European project of integration. acting as a genuine and honest broker in order to find solution that enables European agenda. The approach of the Romanian Presidency revolves around the principle of cohesion among Member States, regions and citizens. The motto of our mandate is therefore “Cohesion,a common European value”. From this perspective, Romania aims at achieving tangible results and at maximizing the benefits that a strong and cohesive union could bring to each and every citizen. Enhancing the political cohesion and the economic dimension of cohesion will go together with enforcing the social component of cohesion for the betterment of the Union as a community but, even more important,for the benefits of the citizens.
The Romanian Presidency will focus on four main pillars, which will be seen in the specific actions of ten configuration of the Council of the EU, as well as in the events that will take place throughout the semester and they are;
1- Europe of Convergence
2- A Safer Europe
3- Europe, A Stronger Global Actor
4- Europe of Common Values.
During its six months mandate as the rotating Presidency of the EU Council, Romania will deploy considerable efforts both in terms of the substantive matters, which are of high complexity, and in terms of logistics, which implies extensive preparation process and continues to require the mobilization of the entire Romanian public administration and society. The following six months are also a great chance to bring Romanians closer to the citizens of the other Member States, to present a European country deeply anchored in the cultural and spiritual tradition of the European continent.
Regarding the external relations of the EU, during its mandate the Presidency of the EU Council will support the efforts of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy within the European Union in the crucial files like identifying the means and ways to cope with the present challenges, enlargement process, security and defence, West Balkans, multilateralism, the Easter vicinity and to ensure an efficient and coherent action of the EU.
I take this opportunity to congratulate France and Germany for signing the new Alysee Treaty which from the European framework, to strengthen the EU and, above all, to enable it to face contemporary challenges. 24 Jan 2018
