Nicusor Dan is participating in the European Council today. What are the main topics on the agenda?
Nicușor Dan at the European Council Photo: presidency.ro
The European leaders meeting in Belgium will talk about “strengthening European industry and building the EU's strategic autonomy, reducing bureaucracy and national barriers, simplifying legislation, but also encouraging investments and innovations to develop European economies”, according to a press release from the Presidential Administration.
“During the discussions, President Nicușor Dan will plead for the consolidation of the Single Market, the attraction of investments and the use of new commercial opportunities resulting from the agreements recently signed by the European Union, which will open up new economic possibilities for our country,” the Cotroceni Palace also reports.
In addition, the president will support the simplification of administrative procedures for businesses, which will facilitate the increase of investments and the expansion of Romanian companies on the European markets.
Nicușor Dan will also ask for longer transition periods for the implementation of environmental policies, “so that they are sustainable and do not negatively affect our economy”.
In preparation for the meeting, President Nicușor Dan discussed with the Minister of Finance Alexandru Nazare, the Minister of European Funds Dragoș Pîslaru, the Minister of Economy Irineu Darău.
Nicușor Dan also had discussions with representatives from the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Bank
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In addition to Nicușor Dan, leaders from Italy, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Denmark, as well as the president of the European Commission, are also participating in the meeting.
Before Thursday's meeting, Ursula von der Leyen said the EU needs to simplify its internal rules to compete with China and the US. According to Reuters, the EU's economic development has lagged behind the US for the past two decades, with problems in productivity and innovation, especially in areas such as AI.
“Let's take the example of the United States again. One financial system, one financial capital,” von der Leyen said on Wednesday. “Here in Europe, we don't just have 27 different financial systems, each with its own supervisory body. We also have over 300 trading venues across the Union. This is extreme fragmentation. We need a large, deep and liquid capital market.”
Former Italian prime ministers Mario Draghi and Enrico Letta, who produced two reports on the challenges of EU competitiveness, will also be invited to the meeting. Draghi's report was adopted as an action plan that the EU should follow.
Enrico Letta told European leaders that the completion of the EU's single market needs to come by 2028. “I think this is the only way to respond to Trump and the external pressures that the European Union is under from China, Russia and the United States in different ways,” he told Reuters.
