THE EUROPEAN UNION AND ROMANIA

Exercising the Presidency of the Council of the European Union

Romania is undergoing intense preparations for the upcoming Presidency of the Council of the
European Union, which it will exercise starting with January 1, 2019. The Romanian Presidency
will cover a period of utmost importance for defining the future of the Union, which will include
the completion of the Brexit process and a symbolic charge, with the European citizens sharing a
sense of unity, solidarity, and common future. Holding this mandate, a first for our country, will
represent both an unprecedented challenge, and an equal opportunity. Thus, Romania will be at
the heart of the European decision-making process, having an important role in facilitating the
process of reflection upon ways of developing and consolidating the European project, the
process of negotiation for the development of the community acquis and, implicitly, for
consolidating the cooperation between the Member States. Assuming the Presidency of the
Council of the European Union over a period of six months, is an obligation which comes from
the capacity of Member State, and presupposes an exceptional effort in consolidating a national
vision regarding the future of the European Union and in increasing the administrative capacity,
necessary for the exercise of this mandate. In exercising its mandate, the Romanian Presidency
of the Council of the European Union must act as an impartial mediator, being responsible for
advancing the Council’s negotiations on the Union’s legislation, for ensuring the continuity of
the European agenda and for the good cooperation between the Member States and the European
institutions. However, in its capacity of President of the Council of the European Union,
Romania will have the possibility to imprint its national vision on the strategic debates regarding
the future of the European project, to directly contribute to the process for its consolidation, and
to promote on the European agenda certain files which our country deems important. Romania’s
Presidency of the Council of the European Union will take place in a complex European and
international context, its political agenda being closely related to the development of some
particularly important files at the Union’s level. Currently, besides the ordinary legislative files,
the most visible of them seem to be the Brexit process and the multiannual financial framework.
In order to ensure the continuity of the Council’s activity, Member States which hold the
Presidency work together, in groups of three, called Trios. Romania will open the Presidency
Trio which also includes Finland and Croatia. The coordination of procedures and processes over
a 18-month period is important for the successful implementation of the Council’s strategic
objectives, and, implicitly, of negotiations on the legislative initiatives in an inter-institutional
format. In this context, ensuring coordination is of utmost importance in the development of the
Common Work Program for the Trio of Presidencies, with priorities set by the European
Council, with the political objectives defined by the European Parliament and with the Work
Program of the European Commission. Romania began its journey to the European Union on
February 1, 1993, when the Association Agreement between Romania and the EU was signed,
agreement which came into force two years later. Romania was officially submitting its request
for accession to the Union in June 1995 and, in December 1999, the European Council decided
to open the accession negotiations with Romania, along with six other states. Officially,
negotiations began on February 15, 2000. Accession negotiations were technically concluded
within the ministerial level Accession Conference of December 14, 2004, decision confirmed on
16-17 December of the same year by the European Council in Brussels. At the same time, the
Council restated the accession calendar: April 2005 – the signing of the Treaty of Accession,
January 1, 2007 – the actual accession. Between 1998 and 2006, the European Commission has
submitted annual assessing documents on Romania’s European progress, documents which were
of two types: reports regarding the state of preparations for the accession, and, respectively, after
signing the Treaty of Accession, comprehensive monitoring reports which presented the state of
fullfillment of the commitments assumed by Romania in the accession negotiations. On April 25,
2005 in Luxembourg, Romania and Bulgaria, along with the representatives of the Member
States signed, the Treaty of Accession to the European Union. Thus, on January 1, 2007,
Romania became a fully-fledged member of the European Union. Ever since its accession,
Romania is represented within the Union’s institutions and bodies – The Council of the European
Union, the European Commission, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social
Committee, the Committee of the Regions, the Court of Justice of the European Union, the Court
of Auditors – by designated/elected members.