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Gunther Kirchbaum: Romania is not in danger of losing European funds due to not respecting rule of law
Romania is not, at the moment, in danger of losing funds in the next financial exercise of the European Union due to not respecting rule of law, significant progress being made, in the past years, in this direction, said, on Tuesday, for Agerpres, German deputy Gunther Krichbaum (CDU), the chairman of the European Union Affairs Committee in the Bundestag.
He emphasized that the establishment of the multiannual financial framework was one of the main objectives of the German presidency and, at this time, there is a clear result of these negotiations, following which Romania will not have to suffer in the allotments chapter.
The mechanism of rule of law played an extremely important role, because, as we have emphasized, in the German Bundestag, due to our background, that we cannot give taxpayer money to those European states, part of the European project, in which the rule of law is not guaranteed. Then, it's hard to justify to our own citizens. I believe that, in Romania, in the recent time, things improved at incredible speed. So that, today, I don't believe there is any fear that the money for Romania could be 'cut', said Krichbaum, who is visiting central city of Brasov on Tuesday.
He also noted that the "fight against criminal structures, corruption" remains an objective for the future, for Romania, "but, under the new government, things improved, we are going in the right direction."
The German deputy also voiced his appreciation, mentioning that Romania did not oppose this negotiation mechanism, in Brussels, but rather Poland and Hungary, which, he said, have reasons for it.
In what regards the domain of Healthcare in Romania, Krichbaum emphasized that things may be improved here too, but "the current government is aware of the task" and mentioned that things cannot be accomplished in "days or months".
If we look to the impact of the pandemic on them other states have issues - Italy, Spain, and France. Fortunately, we (Germany - e.n.) do not have the same situation and that's why we could take COVID-19 patients from France, Spain, Italy. I believe it remains a matter of European solidarity, if a country has the possibility and another does not, we must be solidary with it. Since the start of the pandemic, it was not the best time for Europe, because every state believed it can face the problem alone. This was an enormous mistake, I believe. We must look to the future, see what lessons we've learnt. There are a lot of things to be done. Until today, healthcare, the fight against pandemics, was not the competence of the EU, and now it's the task of heads of state to leave it in the care of the EU, so that in the future we can manage the situation, to confront a second wave, to ensure that what has happened will not happen again, said Gunther Krichbaum.
The German deputy accompanied, on Tuesday, in Brasov, a delegation of German doctors and officials of the German Embassy and Romanian Government, in a meeting with local and county authorities.