President Iohannis meets German President Steinmeier: I reiterated Romania's legitimiate expectations in respect to Schengen accession

President Klaus Iohannis reiterated, on Wednesday, at the meeting with his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Romania's expectations regarding the accession to the Schengen area.

"I have reiterated our country's legitimate expectations of joining the Schengen area, expressing confidence that we will be able to count on Germany's support to identify a solution in this respect as soon as possible," Iohannis told a joint conference with the German President.

The head of state also pointed out that the bilateral, strategic relationship between Romania and Germany is very strong and has very good prospects, despite the current difficult period, marked by multiple challenges, especially in terms of security.

"Our economic ties are very close, Germany being, for many years, Romania's first trading partner and the third largest investor in the Romanian economy. During the meeting we have evoked the solid bridge between the two countries, which is represented on the one hand by the Romanian community in Germany and, on the other hand, by the ethnic Germans in Romania," said Iohannis.

The head of state underscored that Romania wants to deepen cooperation with Germany in the field of security in the Black Sea, including ahead of the NATO Summit in Madrid. In this context, President Iohannis thanked his German counterpart for Germany's participation in ensuring the enhanced air police for Romania.

The discussions between the two officials also focused on the economic situation at the European level, especially from the perspective of the impact of the conflict in Ukraine.

"The Union will have to use all the mechanisms at its disposal to reduce this impact and strengthen its economic resilience," Iohannis said.

In this context, the issue of energy security was also addressed, with an emphasis on the implementation of the Union's decisions on the elimination of energy dependencies on the Russian Federation.

"I have underscored that Romania wants to play an active role in achieving the European Union's strategic objectives for diversifying its natural gas supply. in the long run, including through a green transition that is socio-economically sustainable," Iohannis said.

Moldova is a "very important" subject in Romania, Iohannis added during a joint news conference with visiting German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

"Moldova is a very important subject in Romania, it concerns us and it is obviously a subject that concerns both of us. Romania and Germany have cooperated very well in terms of the relationship with Moldova. I think things will continue the same (...) As far as NATO and the EU are concerned, we need to differentiate a little bit. Moldova has declared itself a neutral state. There are joint projects, but Moldova remains a neutral state. Speaking of the war in Ukraine, we have no actual intelligence that Moldova is threatened in a concrete way militarily or that it is targeted by someone. Certainly there have been provocations in Transnistria, without any concrete consequences. We were all worried, it made us think about this situation," said Iohannis.

He reconfirmed that Romania supports the integration of Moldova with the European Union.

"The integration has been requested by Moldova, who has submitted an official membership request, it has been wanted by Romania for a long time, we support Moldova. Romania has sent teams of experts for many years to help with the integration of Moldova, so we see things the same way the people of the Republic of Moldova want, and there is support there for EU integration and such support has grown a lot in recent years among the population of Moldova, which is an opportunity for us to hope that Moldova, in - a reasonable amount of time - will become part of the EU, and Romania and Germany support that," Iohannis explained.

In his turn, the German president said Russia's chances of destabilising Moldova are well known, but Moldova's national leaders are strong enough to oppose them.

"We are living at a time when it is difficult to exclude certain things. We have been surprised too many times by announcements from Russia that would contradict its conduct of past years. Now, there is this war of aggression that Russia is waging against Ukraine at maximum brutality. Therefore, in terms of the risks of this war to the neighbourhood, we have deepened that in our conversation, and as far as your question about Russia's military activities in the Republic of Moldova is concerned, our concern about the destabilisation of Moldova is not new, and worries about military activities are in any case generated by Russia's influence in Transnistria. On my visit there, I witnessed some threats from Russia to Moldova to shut down the gas supply and then the gas supply was renewed but at a disadvantage for Moldova. So, we cannot rule out anything, but Russia's ways of destabilising Moldova are well known. Russia is using them, and [Moldova's] President Maia Sandu and the government are strong enough to oppose them," said Steinmeier.

He added that Moldova needed help not only in the form of aid, but also with the large number of refugees arriving from Ukraine. 

In this context, he added that his country will join Ukraine in the difficult times that the latter is facing.

"In the 30 years since the signing of the treaty of friendly relations between Romania and Germany, a lot has happened. I think our countries have used this time to bring themselves even closer. We are very close today politically, economically, in terms of the civil society. Let me emphasise that because it may never have been so clear as in these times how important unity is in Europe, how important unity is inside the transatlantic alliance at a time when Russia's fierce war of aggression is taking place against Ukraine: destruction, thousands of dead, wounded, millions of refugees and much suffering," Steinmeier told a joint news conference on Wednesday with Romania's President Klaus Iohannis.

He said that Germany would stand with Ukraine during the difficult period the latter is facing.

"It is extremely important for both of us that this close connection is not only emphasised, but also maintained in the coming weeks and months in which this war will continue. And together (...) we are convinced that we, not only Germany and Romania, but the entire European Union and the whole of NATO, we will side with Ukraine, we will be close to Ukraine, we will support it with everything necessary in this emergency. I think that our help, our support will be needed for a long time (...).We will be standing with Ukraine in this difficult period they are facing, we will not abandon them," the German official added.

Steinmeier went on to say that Germans are impressed with Romania's solidarity and humanity toward Ukraine refugees.

"We feel respect, gratitude for the support provided. I know that there are between 600,000 and 700,000 refugees arrived, of which 80,000 or 90,000 have remained in Romania, and the fact that this support was expressed not only by support from the government but also by many civil society initiatives. I want to make it clear that what Romania is doing has all our respect, and Germany is aware of that, and Germany will continue to help the refugees with all they may need. There are 350,000 registered refugees in Germany, plus about 100,000 who are still unregistered and who are enjoying great hospitality in Germany," he said.

He added that Germany's solidarity with NATO was unquestionable.

"In a country that is not as close to the conflict as Germany, unlike the Republic of Moldova, where I was a few weeks ago, I can understand that here in Romania, not only in politics, but also among the public, the security situation has been a topic of discussions. I would like to say what last week I also said in Slovakia that our solidarity within the Alliance is unquestionable and we have shown this in various ways, such as by the presence of our soldiers in Lithuania - you just said that German forces contributed to air security as six Eurofighter planes were part of a rotating project," the German official said.

According to him, "unity is a precious asset at this time when others are trying to divide Europe and NATO."

"Unity and cohesion exist in the bilateral relations between Romania and Germany and have always existed. Contributing to that are the many interpersonal relations that have always existed between our countries and that have been of help that have even been a bridge. There are thousands of Romanian students studying in Germany, the workforce, and also the German community in Romania. All of these together are bridge builders that have contributed to the excellent relations between Romania and Germany that we are witnessing today. I am glad that today we will also talk to the German community, we will have the opportunity to talk to the prime minister as well. 

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