Bolojan warns that the EU's eastern border must be strengthened. “We cannot trust that in the coming years Russia's behavior will become predictable again”
Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan declared on Tuesday, March 31, that the EU's eastern border must be strengthened, in the context of Russia's unpredictability and the risks of instability in Ukraine.
Ilie Bolojan/PHOTO: Mediafax
“The eastern border of the European Union will remain for many years and is still today the most important border of the EU. Of course, the other borders are also important. We have problems in the Mediterranean area with the illegal migration component, but from a strategic, economic, military and defense point of view, this border from the Baltic to the Black Sea is the most important in the coming years, because we cannot trust that in the coming years Russia's behavior will become predictable again after what happened in the last years.
We have to think about what a zone of instability in Ukraine means in the coming years for the security of Europe. From this point of view, I believe that the eastern border must be stronger, more reinforced in the coming years”, the prime minister declared at the event “The Economist – Romania Government Roundtable”.
The prime minister adds that the eastern border can only be strengthened if military security is combined with economic development, because one without the other does not work. At the same time, he believes that the enlargement of the European Union contributes to the strengthening and competitiveness of the EU.
“Competitiveness does not depend only on expansion, it depends on many factors that were described by the prime ministers, by specialists, but the expansion part supported competitiveness all these years.
If we think about expanded markets, if we think about consumers, about labor forces, about the expansion of the value chains of European industry, this has made these chains remain competitive all these years. And what happened, for example, in the automotive industry, in other industries that expanded their production chains in Eastern Europe, with the enlargement of the Union, helped to support the competitiveness of the European Union”, Bolojan explained.
Bolojan: “EU enlargement is not just an act of generosity”
The prime minister also points out that EU enlargement helps countries improve their governance and, implicitly, development. He believes that the lagging behind of some states in the East is also related to governance problems, and that joining the EU, through rules and standards, leads to economic growth and a better standard of living.
He gives the example of Romania, which developed after the accession in 2007, and says that the same effect would appear in other countries that would enter the Union.
“The expansion of the Union is not only an act of generosity, as it could be interpreted from a certain perspective, but it is an important strategic decision that we support.
I think it is not just an expense, as it could be recorded in a simplistic accounting formula, but it is an investment in the development of the European Union in the coming years and an important step for competitiveness, for a safe zone in this part of the world, for bigger markets and for a stronger European Union”.
