Romanian Presidency priorities discussed in committees

Romania is holding the Presidency of the Council until the end of June 2019. Hearings take place from 21 January onwards.

Regional Development: Cohesion, a common European value

Moving the negotiation process forward on the 2021-2027 EU long-term budget will be one of the top priorities during the Romanian Presidency of the Council, according to Minister of European Funds, Rovana Plumb, on Tuesday. The minister also outlined that the main priorities set by the presidency are a “Europe of convergence, a safer Europe, Europe as a strong global actor and Europe of common values”.

MEPs insisted that the Regional Development Committee is ready with all legislative files and wants to have a chance to negotiate with EU member states, seeking a broader approach for cooperation.

Industry, Research and Energy

In the field of energy, the Romanian Presidency will focus on the consumer and on diversifying energy sources, supply and security as well as affordable energy services, Anton Anton, Romanian Minister for Energy announced. The Presidency will formalise political agreements on the reform of the electricity market, part of the Clean Energy package and wants to advance in the negotiations on the common rules for the internal market in natural gas as much as possible.

Alexandru Petrescu, Romanian Minister for Communications and Information Society said that the Romanian Presidency will focus on digitalisation throughout the EU and in all economic sectors. They will move forward and, where feasible, complete negotiations on legislative files, such as re-use of public sector information, Digital Europe Programme, the telecom part of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), privacy of electronic communications (ePrivacy), creating the European Cybersecurity Industrial, Technology and Research Competence Centre and the network of coordinated national centres.

One of the major objectives of the Presidency in the field of research and innovation is to promote European solutions aimed at reducing research and innovation performance gaps between EU member states, Nicolae Hurduc, Romanian Minister for Research and Innovation said. The Romanian Presidency will also endeavour to advance the negotiations on the Horizon Europe file.

Niculae Bădălău, Romanian Minister of Economy (responsible for industry including defence industry) stated that the Romanian Presidency will continue efforts to develop a long-term EU industrial policy strategy for 2030 and push for Council conclusions on this issue. Artificial intelligence was also mentioned as crucial for European industry.

Transport

Promoting connectivity, digitalization and the use of technology in order to increase the competitiveness of the European transport industry are the highest priorities for the Romanian EU Council Presidency, said Rovana Plumb, Interim Minister for Transport.

The Presidency will focus on proposals on managing road safety infrastructure, rules for hiring trucks from another member state and aerodynamic truck cabs. They also aim to make progress on the Eurovignette proposal, rail passenger rights and clean vehicles directive, the Connecting Europe Facility regulation, as well as training of seafarers and the Maritime Single Window. It is ready to discuss the mobility package and it will address ending seasonal clock changes in the second half of the Presidency.

MEPs welcomed the ambitious plans, but remarked that negotiations between the Council and Parliament will need to be concluded well ahead of the elections in the Parliament. MEPs greeted the focus on developing the TEN-T network and finalising the renewal of the Connecting Europe Facility and rail passenger rights. They expressed hope that Romania can use the presidency period to tackle unfair competition in transport.

Employment and Social Affairs: promoting fair labour mobility across the EU

“Our presidency aims to promote the free mobility of workers as a driver of growth and competitiveness in the internal market, while combating fraud and inequalities”, Minister of Labour and Social Justice Marius-Constantin Budai said on Wednesday 23 January in the Employment committee. The Romanian Presidency priorities include: guaranteeing the European Pillar of Social Rights by being more inclusive of social partners; promoting health and safety in the workplace and fostering equal opportunities for men and women on the labour market, namely by reducing the wage gap.

The minister underlined that the Council is confident that it will come to an agreement before the end of the current legislative term on the following files:

• setting up a European Labour Authority;
• the coordination of social security systems;
• transparent and predictable working conditions;
• the third proposal on the protection of workers from carcinogens and mutagens (CMD3) and
• the work-life balance directive.

Foreign Affairs

Promoting the EU enlargement policy with the Western Balkans, strengthening ties with the neighbourhood countries and consolidating the EU’s global strategy are amongst the priorities of the Romanian Presidency. As Romania’s Foreign Affairs Minister Teodor Meleșcanu put it, “cohesion will be the motor of our presidency”. The Presidency will aim to keep all communication channels with Turkey open, bearing in mind that Turkey is a strategic EU partner in many areas.

The Romanian presidency of the Council comes at a historical moment for the EU, with Brexit around the corner and the upcoming European elections. Together with bolstering the EU’s external action, the presidency will focus on countering disinformation and developing a European mechanism to share best practices to fight misinformation.

Women’s rights and gender equality: work-life balance, women on boards and Istanbul Convention

“We will strive to close negotiations and reach a deal on the work-life balance Directive during a final trilogue on Wednesday”, the Romanian Labour and Social Justice Minister Marius-Constantin Budai said on Tuesday. Other priorities of the Presidency are to move forward with the negotiations on the Directive on improving the gender balance among non-executive directors of companies listed on stock exchanges (the so-called Women on Boards Directive), which has been blocked for several years in the Council. Tackling the gender pay gap and fighting all forms of discrimination are also high on the Romanian Presidency’s agenda.

Regarding the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combatting violence against women (known as the Istanbul Convention), Mr. Budai declared that the Romanian Presidency will do its best so that all member states ratify it (to date, eight EU countries still haven’t done so).

Economic and monetary affairs: banking and capital markets union, European Monetary Fund

ECOFIN Chair and Public Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici said on Monday 21 January that the Presidency would aim to continue deepening economic and monetary union, particularly through progress on the banking union and the capital markets union. making progress towards fairer taxation, and improving economic convergence. MEPs were particularly interested in Mr Teodorovici’s views on the European Monetary Fund and stabilisation mechanism proposals, as well as what progress could be made towards a Eurozone budget. They also asked about the next steps on digital taxation, the list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for taxation purposes as well as the review of the EU financial supervisory agencies.

Budgets: invitation to appear declined

Successive Council presidencies have been invited to present their priorities on EU budget-related matters, without ever accepting. The Romanian Presidency has so far refrained from answering, despite the number of important files of common interest being dealt with by that committee: the 2020 budget, the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework, the protection of financial interests in case of rule of law deficiencies, InvestEU and the Reform Support programme, inter alia.

Culture and education: mobility, inclusion, support for artists and fair remuneration for authors

The Presidency will focus on early childhood education and care as well as language teaching and learning, as they can contribute towards increasing mobility and creating an inclusive environment, National Education Minister Ecaterina Andronescu said on Tuesday.

Culture and National Identity Minister Valer Daniel Breaz said they would try to finalise negotiations on the copyright legislation, highlighting the importance of fair remuneration of artists, but also access to content. Access to more opportunities, integrating more easily in the labour market and volunteering for young people will be the main priorities in the field of youth, Youth and Sports Minister Constantin-Bogdan Matei said.

Internal Market: Online platforms, market surveillance, consumer protection rules

Finalising the negotiations on online platforms and market surveillance rules to ensure that products sold in the EU are safe are among the priorities of the Presidency, said Economy Minister Nicolae Bădălău, on Tuesday. The 2021-2027 single market programme, which will depend on the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) negotiations, is also high on the agenda.

On updating consumer protection rules (the “Omnibus proposal” voted through on Tuesday in the committee, which also deals with dual quality of products), the Presidency will seek to obtain a Council position at the beginning of February, the minister ensured MEPs, so that negotiations with Parliament could start soon.

This text will be updated once a day.