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Czech Ambassador to Bucharest launches country take over rotating EU Council Presidency
The Russian invasion of Ukraine trigerred a reassessment of the European Union's priorities, the Czech ambassador in Bucharest, Halka Kaiserova, said on Monday, as her country took over the rotating presidency of the EU Council.
The Czech presidency's slogan is "Europe as a Task," which is the title of a 1996 speech by former President Vaclav Havel, Kaiserova told a news conference.
Although Havel's words about Europe were written at a different time and in a different Europe than the one we live in today, their basic message and legacy was still strong, said the ambassador.
Halka Kaiserova detailed the priorities of the Czech mandate: managing the refugee crisis amid the war in Ukraine, Ukraine's rebuilding plan, energy security, food security, and strengthening resilience at the EU level.
The high Czech ambassador also highlighted the commitment to the Republic of Moldova, an EU candidate country, a country that was also affected by the security crisis in the region.
According to this country's high representative, the Czech Presidency takes the situation in the Republic of Moldova very seriously and is very aware of Moldova's strategic role in the current geopolitical context. An informal meeting of EU Justice and Home Affairs Ministers is taking place in Prague on Monday, with migration among the main items on the agenda, alongside the security situation caused by the war in Ukraine and the launch of a European security hub in Moldova, which could help border control and security management in this country, so that the Czech Presidency will be constantly aware of the situation. The ambassador also added that the Czech Republic supports Romania's, Germany's and France's activity related to the support platform for the Republic of Moldova.
Kaiserova also mentioned the efforts the Czech Republic plans to make to unblock more talks on EU enlargement. She gave assurance that the Czech Presidency takes the issue of enlargement very seriously and will try to act to unblock the situation and discuss various issues, including the Schengen issue.
Attending the same press conference, the Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, reiterated that one of Romania's priorities at the EU level is accession to the Schengen Zone.
The events caused by the crisis in Ukraine have once again proved that Romania has both the capacity and the determination to face major challenges and to ensure the efficient functioning of the EU's external border. Romania has passed a new test of resilience and solidarity through its management of the waves of persons seeking refuge from the war in Ukraine and showed that it is quite able to deal with the situation. A positive decision on our accession will officially reconfirm this assessment. We rely on our EU partners' support in this endeavour, said the head of the Romanian diplomacy.
He recalled that since the beginning of the war, 1.5 million Ukrainians have entered in Romania.
The war has not only created casualties and refugees, but has increased economic inequalities and confirms the importance of energy security in the EU. Our actions in this area contribute to our common goal of strengthening the EU's resilience in all areas, Aurescu said.
In her turn, the head of the Representative Office of the European Commission in Bucharest, Ramona Chiriac, pointed out in her speech that the Czech Presidency is a "war" one.
The war has returned to Europe. We hope that you will also have a post-war presidency, which will start the rebuilding of Ukraine, in the spirit of unity, together with partners who think the same, she told the Czech representatives.
She also said that, if there was one thing that (Vladimir) Putin did not anticipate [related to the European Union - editor's note], it is our unity.
Chiriac went on to underscore the existing goal at the EU level to achieve energy independence from the Russian Federation.
If we talk about energy dependence and our efforts to break away from Russia in this area as well, I can say that we are already importing more energy and gas from the United States than gas from Russia. This is already happening. We are doing what we said we would do and we are reducing our dependence on Russia, said the head of the Representative Office of the European Commission.