Romania is an extremely important bilateral, European and international partner for Italy and we want Romania to fully enter the Schengen area, said the visiting president of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, on Wednesday, at a joint press conference with president Klaus Iohannis.

Belonging to the European Union is another reason for dialogue and collaboration and for this reason I want Italy to ask the European Council to eliminate the land borders, so that Romania can fully enter the Schengen area. It is a condition that we adhere to very much and which we request a lot. We have an intense collaboration on the Euro-Atlantic level and we often collaborate with the armed forces, which have a very important collaboration in all plans concerning the Atlantic Alliance, Sergio Mattarella, who is on an official visit in Romania, stated.

At the same time, the Italian president pointed out the excellent bilateral relations on „all levels”, facilitated by „the deep cultural ties and the presence of our communities in Romania and in Italy”.

In Italy there is a large community of Romanians, who contribute to our life in an effective way, Mattarella said.

In this context, the Italian president highlighted the presence of numerous Italian companies in Romania, a fact that contributes to the excellent economic relations between the two states.

Mr. President Iohannis said that trade has reached 20 billion euros and we hope it will grow even more. The intergovernmental summit in February and the signing of bilateral agreements was a success for bilateral relations and opened other avenues of collaboration, Mattarella declared.

Regarding the discussions held on the European dimension, the Italian president pointed out that after the recent elections, it is necessary for the citizens to regain trust in the European institutions.

He reiterated as an indispensable objective the expansion of the European Union and the involvement of the candidate countries in this process.

As Mr. President Iohannis said, I was in the Republic of Moldova yesterday and I reaffirmed the collaboration with the Republic of Moldova and the support for the Republic of Moldova and the intention to support during the European integration and the support for Ukraine. We have similar positions regarding the accession process, the fastest possible accession of these countries to the European Union in order to contribute to the life of the Union, Mattarella stressed.

He specified that he also discussed with president Iohannis about the need for the European Union to address the issues related to the intensification of the Union’s competitiveness on the international level, the economic dimension, the social cohesion, the financial dimension of the EU, as well as the issues related to the completion of the budget, after the European elections and the decision-making process.

Problems arise more and more quickly in the contemporary world and demand immediate, quick answers. (…) The European Union must be faster in terms of decision-making, Sergio Mattarella assessed.

The Italian president also presented the conclusions of the discussions on security, underlining the need to strengthen the European defense pillar within NATO, as well as maintaining support for Ukraine.

We think that a common European defence is necessary to strengthen the European pillar within NATO and to give an on-the-ground response to the growing influence of the Russian Federation. I spoke with Mr. President about Ukraine and about the full support that both Romania and Italy intend to maintain it in the future in favour of Ukraine, to defend the independence and sovereignty of this country, to protect, to respect the rules of international law and the life of the international community and the security of Europe. The defence of Ukraine, the resistance of Ukraine means security and resistance of entire Europe. So, we also talked about the conference in Switzerland, but it was a first step, a preliminary step to start the peace negotiations. We hope that the Russian Federation will be available to reaffirm the rules of international law, to find a viable solution, Sergio Mattarella added.

AGERPRES