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President Iohannis to attend informal meeting of the European Council in Brussels on Friday
Romania's President Klaus Iohannis will be attending an informal meeting of the European Council in Brussels on Friday, according to the Presidential Administration.
Featuring on the agenda of the meeting are negotiations over the post-2020 multiannual financial framework, as well as institutional aspects of the European Union.
According to the Presidential Administration, as far as the future budget of the European Union after 2020 is concerned, the European leaders will provide a series of clarifications regarding the timing of the negotiatimg process, the priorities to be funded and the member states' availability to increase their contributions to the EU budget.
"The President of Romania will emphasise the importance of keeping the member states engaged in the negotiating process in order to reach an agreement as soon as possible. In this context, President Klaus Iohannis will point out that Romania, as the country holding the EU Council Presidency in the first half of 2019 will work to facilitate a political agreement on building a modern and efficient budget for the European Union after 2020."
Iohannis will also speak up for a future budget of the European Union that meets, as far as possible, the priorities and needs of all member states. He will emphasise, according to the Presidential Administration, the need to preserve convergence as a top priority, while maintaining substantial allocations for traditional EU policies that have demonstrated their added value benefitted the whole of the Union. In this context, he will advocate for adequate funding of the cohesion policy in order to reduce existing gaps between member states, while at the same time reforming it to respond as effectively as possible to the current needs of the European Union.
As regards the European Union's new priorities, such as the defence policy, migration, innovation, research, and youth initiatives, Iohannis will underscore that they must be funded in the future EU budget without affecting the allocations for the traditional policies.
The informal meeting of the European Council will also address the composition of the European Parliament for the 2019-2024 term, the "top seed" candidates of the European political parties (Spitzenkandidaten) as well as the transnational lists.
With regard to the future composition of the European Parliament, Iohannis will point out that Romania supports the proposal of the European Legislature for the new distribution of MEP seats for the 2019-2024 term. Under this proposal, Romania should get 33 MEPs, one more than in the current legislature.