Romania 'illegitimately represented'

"In the past eight years so far since I have been representing Romania at the EU council we have earned a good reputation", the President declared.

He mentioned that the good reputation that Romania had earned would have been called into question if two delegates had attended the Brussels council.

The President added that Thursday’s UE agenda is more subtle that it seems;

"In a subtle way, the document that will be brought into discussion today concerns the cessation of sovereignty. It’s the most important topic that’s not part of any conclusion. The unification of fiscality and the increase of the authority of the Central European Bank will be among the topics for discussion", the President said.

The President said that a rapid economic, fiscal and budget integration represented a substratum of the summit’s agenda and that one needed "the necessary experience in order to approach it".

President Băsescu also said that he had no intention of filing any charges against the vice president.

"We are in a situation where the state law is called into question due to the attitude of vice president Ponta and the judicial pressures from the past two weeks", the President said.

He emphasized that the vice president is representing Romania at the EU Council illegitimately and added that he was contacted by the premier Thursday who requested to sign his mandate.

"I am convinced that the delegation that has headed for Brussels didn’t understand the mandate for today’s EU summit" he said.

President Băsescu stressed that he was hindered from taking part in the council by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Premier.

We were supposed "to have a discussion in Brussels"

Thursday the premier said that he was willing to make a compromise so that Romania might be represented at the Brussels summit.

"If President Băsescu won’t come today, on the basis of the mandate issued by the Parliament I will represent Romania at the debate. I will respect the decision of the CC", he said.

The premier added that the President must respect the decisions of the Parliament and the Government.

"I want to find an institutional way of solving our conflicts.

"We were supposed to have a discussion in Brussels about who would represent Romania at the summit but I observe that the President hasn’t come.

"Any internal conflict must be voided here in Brussels and any institutional decision is in Romania’s advantage", the premier added.

According to Angela Bârgăoan, our special envoy to Brussels, the premier participated in a meeting between the Socialist Government leaders destined to harmonize their opinions that they would present at the summit.

The premier left for Brussels together with the Ministries of External Affairs and European businesses.

Wednesday, the CC decided that the President was the one to represent Romania at EU summits as well as to delegate to the vice president the international representation of Romania.

Although the CC ruled in his disfavor, the vice president declared that he was the one who would attend the EU summit on the basis of the mandate issued by the Parliament.

"On the basis of the mandate conferred by the Parliament I will go Thursday in Brussels. The President does not have any kind of mandate", the Premier said on Wednesday.

Translated by Vlad Nichita
MTTLC, Bucharest University