Statements by Prime Minister Viorica Dăncilă at the start of the Cabinet meeting

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Viorica Dăncilă: Good afternoon! We continue to achieve very good results in exercising the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union. In these three months of term, the Ministers alongside the expert teams under their coordination and with Romania's Permanent Representation, have finalized 88 dossiers they had on the working table, concerning all areas: finance, border security, agriculture, energy, digitization, transport, jobs and health.

We have an intense activity this week too: Minister Anton Anton chaired yesterday the session of the Informal meeting of Energy Ministers, within which, the priorities of the future European energy system were analyzed.

Minister Nicolae Hurduc is chairing today the Informal meeting of the member states' Ministers of Research and Innovation that discusses ways to intensify scientific cooperation

Today, Minister Bogdan Trif opened the session of the Ministerial Conference „Sustainable tourism –common policy of EU member states to find the best solutions for tourism development”.

At the end of this week, Minister of Finance Eugen Teodorovici will welcome in Bucharest all the EU Finance Ministers and central bank governors at the informal ECOFIN meeting. The elements of the multi-annual financial framework, the way to follow regarding the union of capital markets and the challenges posed by labor mobility will be discussed on this occasion. In a first, representatives of the social partners will also attend this informal meeting. Our desire is that the important decisions for the European project be taken by consulting all the parties involved.

This week, we are also hosting a series of meetings of experts from the member states on various topics such as education, food safety, employment, agricultural research, and where the lines to be followed for boosting the living standards of the European citizens will be established

Since we are talking about the EU, the European institutions, I was surprised today by the statements of the First Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, considering that there was and still is a total openness regarding the steps we are about to take. We formed a group of experts, we worked at the level of experts, both from the European Commission and the Justice Ministry. Each time, we mentioned we will consult each other and there will be transparency.

For this reason, Timmermans’ statement of today caused uncertainties and I didn’t understand its sense, since it is not folded on the existing realities. I will talk with the First Vice-President of the European Commission on these issues.

I know there was a discussion at the College of Commissioners today about Romania, and I hope the Romanian Commissioner supported Romania this time.

I was equally surprised by the statements of the President of European Parliament, Antonio Tajani. I think that no political decision-maker or stakeholder , even the President of the European Parliament, can request the start or stop of a criminal investigation. We are asked not to interfere in the act of justice. And it seems right to me. But European officials are asking us to stop criminal investigations. I tell them clearly that the Prime Minister of Romania has not interfered and shall never interfere in the act of justice.

Today, I saw the point of view of a group of ambassadors. I wanted to have an individual discussion with each ambassador in this group, but they refused. I remind Misters and Madams Ambassadors that we are in Romania and that I have a direct dialogue with my counterparts. I recommend that they address the authorities of the country they belong to, because in no state do the ambassadors set the agenda of the Prime Minister and I will not allow this. They must show respect for Romania, as our ambassadors, to each state, either a member of the European Union or a third country, have respect for that state.

Finally, I think that this rather unpleasant situation was created by the repeated statements on justice of the President of Romania. Although the President of Romania have not had any contribution to the results obtained so far by the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, he managed to project a poor image of our country abroad. It is a shame that this happens precisely during Romania's rotating presidency of the EU Council.

We are making progress regarding the Ploiesti-Brasov Motorway project, an investment awaited by Romanians, very important for sustaining economic development. Although the previous governments kept on promising to build this highway, and conducted and recovered the feasibility studies, and we, in only a few months, have reached the final stage of public procurement.

Recently, according to the established deadline, an association of companies with extensive experience in the field of infrastructure submitted the detailed offer for the construction and operation in public-private partnership of the Ploiesti-Brasov Motorway.

The evaluation committee has opened the offer, the documentation is being checked, and the terms of the public-private partnership contract will soon begin to be negotiated.

Also, in the field of infrastructure, today we will adopt a decision to initiate the expropriation procedures for the first section of the Craiova-Pitesti express road, which will have 17.7 kilometers. Estimated amounts for damages to be granted for private immovable property on the upcoming expressway, approximately 4 million lei, are allocated from the state budget through the budget of the Ministry of Transport. Craiova - Pitesti express road will have 4 lanes (2 lanes in each direction) and will bypass the towns on the route - Bals and Slatina.

We have two normative acts on the daily agenda, whereby we support farmers and beekeepers this year too.

We will continue the program started by the Government last year to support pig breeders of the Bazna and / or Mangaliţa breeds. We have allocated 4.6 million lei this year, funds provided in the budget of the Ministry of Agriculture.

We will also continue in a simplified form the National Apiculture Program, for which 33.4 million lei are provided, money from national and European funds.

At the same time, we continue to offer farmers subsidies on time. Even today, approximately 125 million euros from the European Union have entered the accounts of Romania. The Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Petre Daea, informed me that the process of submitting the single payment applications goes according to schedule. So far, over 340,000 farmers filed applications, with 16,150 more than last year submitted applications. It is a good sign, which shows that the measures taken by the Government of Romania so far are appreciated by farmers, which makes us confident that this year will be a good year for agriculture.

I want to salute the decision taken by the European Parliament's Committee on Agriculture to remove the mandatory capping of subsidies. The adopted solution, which Romania strongly endorsed, brings benefits to both large farms and small and medium-sized farms across the European Union.

The Government continues the measures designed to improve the educational system and supports the access of pupils and students to education. We are preoccupied with offering equal opportunities to our children and young people for a better life. We will continue to support pupils and students from low-income families to buy computers by granting 200 Euros each pupil. Today, we approve the Government Decision on this.

Through the budget for 2019, we have provided the necessary funding, namely 12 million lei, money that will provide support to 12,000 pupils and students.

In the PSD-ALDE government, we have taken measures to increase the number of young people who benefit of this aid, considering that it is a successful program with more than 300,000 pupils and students among its beneficiaries in those 15 years of implementation.

At the end of the Cabinet meeting, the Government Spokesman will detail the normative acts we will adopt on today’s meeting. Thank you.