President Klaus Iohannis declared, on Wednesday, in connection with the leadership positions in the European institutions, that it must be negotiated in such a way that „all states feel involved, empowered and served according to the national interest”, noting that „it is not possible that any member state be ignored, marginalized or uninvolved” in these negotiations.

„It is a well-known fact that on Monday evening there was an informal meeting of the heads of state and government in the European Council and we discussed the result of the elections, about possible solutions to occupy the leadership positions in the European institutions. It was an informal meeting and that’s why I won’t give details about these discussions, but allow me some considerations related to what, in my opinion, should be the result. We have the European Union, a very successful project and, in my opinion, a great future project if we manage this correct future, in line with the expectations of European citizens and in such a way that we count in the world equation, in the global equation. So, what should we see? Since they are political negotiations, they are complicated, because the architecture of the Union is complex,” stated Klaus Iohannis, after the meeting with the president of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella.

He added that „the European Union is a union of states, not of parties”.

Iohannis pointed out that political families in the EU have a weight in the negotiation of functions, but „these families cannot suppress the right of the member states to be involved and decide”.

„We must have a fair, subtle and negotiated balance. That is if we are talking about how to reach a conclusion. But let’s not forget the European citizen. Europeans have expectations from the European institutions and these expectations have not always been met. In my opinion, there is too much distance between the voter and the leadership of the European institutions, (…) between the voter and Brussels (…) It would be desirable and important for the future of the Union that these two get closer, that is, the European should find himself in the European policies, and the European politician should listen better to what the Europeans want,” the president also said, giving the farmers’ situation as an example.

„We have had, and I think we will have, extensive protests by European farmers, because certain areas have been regulated that the farmers do not resonate with. They feel threatened in their very existence, their farms, their families. These protests took place in the year of grace 2024, even though the respective regulations are from the year 2020. And then I also asked, publicly, I did not receive any answer, but I also ask here: how could something concerning millions of Romanian farmers, they were not discussed until, four years later, they went out on the streets and protested. It is clear that the communication here was not optimal. This is just one example, there are more,” said the head of state.

According to president Iohannis, the European institutions must be led by correctly elected persons, who are highly respected, „on whom no doubt can hover or, as they say in our country, they must be clean as a whistle.”

Klaus Iohannis mentioned that the package of nominations for positions must be „impeccable, strong, of maximum trust, negotiated in blood”.

Asked if Romania was treated correctly in these negotiations, considering that he asked for a better representation of Eastern Europe in these positions, the president said: „This is one of the relevant criteria and I was glad that not only I emphasized the importance of geographical balance, as we call it, so this is not a problem and Romania is treated correctly. I made sure of this”.

AGERPRES