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Romanian, French officials discuss point of bilateral strategic partnership
Foreign Affairs Minister Titus Corlatean received French State Secretary for European Affairs Harlem Desir on Tuesday; the two officials confirmed the roadmap of the bilateral strategic partnership and underlined the need of disseminating its current phase to the public in the two countries.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE), Corlatean and Desir voiced their satisfaction on the Group for the Republic of Moldova's European Action (GAERM) Monday's meeting in Chisinau, which they see as an important political signal of solidarity in the context of the crisis in eastern Ukraine. The parties hailed the joint message of GAERM to the Republic of Moldova, firmly supporting the country's European option.
The two officials also reviewed several key elements of the bilateral relation between Romanian and France, and vowed to use the full cooperation potential, a diverse and very substantial one. In this respect, they mentioned the cooperation on political, economic, trade, and research and innovation levels, within the framework provided by European policies.
MAE points out the voicing of satisfaction about Francophone tradition in Romania, offering a complementary base for deeper bilateral cooperation.
'The two parties appreciated that the bilateral relation is currently showing a new development state, one of authentic strategic partnership, and efforts are necessary to made this known, including by the public in the two countries. They reasserted the support for the application of the Strategic Partnership Roadmap, the appropriate framework for deeper bilateral cooperation,' a release of MAE points out.
According to this document, the Romanian minister and the French state secretary voiced their satisfaction about the cooperation within the European Union, and appreciated that Romania and France, as partner states at this level, too, share the commitment to the fundamental values and principles on which the European project is founded, and a common view on the future and policies of the EU.
Also on the agenda were the topics of Romania's accession to the Schengen Area and the perspective of getting results in accordance with the two-stage solution, and the evolutions in the eastern neighbourhood. The two officials shared their serious concerns about the escalation of the situation in the region and the breaching of international laws.
'The parties firmly advocated the need for solidarity and unity of the EU member states, including the matter of sanctions, so as to find a political solution,' MAE stated.
EC assessments on Romania's Schengen bid reveal substantial advancements
French Secretary of State for European Affairs Harlem Desir said on Tuesday that assessments by the European Commission of Romania's Schengen accession bid have found substantial advancements by Bucharest.
He also said that relevant decision-makers are currently considering what to decide in the case of Romania's Schengen accession.
The French official revealed that France perfectly understands the importance of the Schengen subject for Romania.
We are currently working alongside our colleagues in the Romanian Government on this issue and especially on aspects specific to Schengen airports, Desir added.
About the situation of the Roma, the French official said that the migration phenomenon has reached a certain stability in France.
Even if there are still serious issues to address related to trafficking, child exploitation, they must be fought, said the French Secretary of State, remarking that the Romanian-French police cooperation on the fight against crime is 'highly efficient.'
In his opinion, the main problem related to the situation of the Roma in France is of a social nature and is tightly related to the fight against poverty. In this context, Desir said he is 'highly confident' in Romania's 'very serious' approach of the social insertion of the poor.