Hungary supports Romania’s Schengen accession.
Hungary supports Romania’s Schengen accession, and if the process is not completed by next summer, Budapest will bring up the issue once it takes over the rotating presidency of the EU Council. The statement was made by Hungary’s president, Katalin Novák, who invited president Klaus Iohannis to Budapest for the first visit by a Romanian head of state to Hungary in 14 years.
The talks covered the most important topics on the EU agenda, an occasion for Klaus Iohannis to reiterate Romania’s commitment to a united, stronger and more resilient Union:
Klaus Iohannis: „Our talks highlighted the support of both states to furthering the EU enlargement process. I have reiterated Romania’s firm support for the adoption, by the end of this year, of the decision to open EU accession negotiations with Ucraine and the Republic of Moldova.”
On the other hand, the two presidents also discussed opportunities to develop bilateral economic and infrastructure cooperation. The president of Hungary,Katalin Novák, pointed out that natural gas development projects like ʹNeptun Deepʹ,in the Black Sea, should be supported financially by the European Union. „I signal Hungary’s intention to buy even more gas, because in this way we could further diversify current energy resources and we would reduce our dependence on Russia. We are in discussions on this issue,” Katalin Novak said.
Romania may become a relevant partner and supplier for the neighbouring state, came the answer from president Klaus Iohannis, who also seized the opportunity to voice the Romanian authorities’ willingness to act so as to strengthen bilateral dialogue and cooperation, and the need to avoid unilateral or controversial moves.
Moreover, according to the Romanian party, economic cooperation should be structured into projects of mutual interest, without ethnic discrimination, not limited to certain regions of Romania and financed in compliance with Romanian and EU legislation as well as having the consent of the Romanian side. „We are open to supporting Hungarian investments across our country and will encourage Romanian companies to further invest in Hungary,” Klaus Iohannis said.
The Romanian official also mentioned that national minorities contribute to creating and consolidating bridges between their current home country, the only one responsible for protecting their rights, and their country of origin. In short, Romania is fully determined to act to strengthen dialogue and cooperation with Hungary and to provide even more substance to the Strategic Partnership that ties the 2 countries.
(Roxana Vasile, Radio Romania International)
