Loading ...The meeting of the General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) on June 16 showed "strong solidarity and determination around the idea of continuing the ratification process of the Lisbon Treaty," after it had been rejected by referendum in Ireland, Foreign Minister Lazar Comanescu said.
GAERC meeting has made a first assessment of the consequences of the vote in Ireland, without exhaustively dealing with the topic the heads of state and governments are approaching during the European Council due this week, Romania’s top diplomat stressed during a news conference late on Monday.
"As for me, I continue to be confident, we are to find the way to make the European Union stronger and more efficient to the benefit of all its citizens," ForMin Comanescu said, also mentioning that the consensual stance the EU foreign ministers expressed on Monday requires clear-cut confirmations of the EU commitment to the consolidation of the European prospects of the countries of the Western Balkan area.
Signed was also an Accord on Stabilization and Association with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the participants took note of the latest developments in Serbia, voicing their hope for shaping a new Government in Belgrade, as soon as possible, able to consolidate Serbia’s EU roadmap, ForMin Comaneascu said.
"I am optimistic that Serbia will irreversibly go on its way to the EU and therefore I pointed out during this GAERC meeting that the EU must be prepared for the next logical step, namely a political decision on granting a country the status of a EU candidate this year," Romania’s top diplomat said, stressing that GAERC prepared the agenda of the EU Council scheduling issues of immediate topicality and interest for the EU citizens, to whose development Romania is to contribute as well.
"I mean the talks the heads of state and governments will hold on issues such as the EU capacity to face the globalisation issues, such as those of energy, the climate changes, the rise in the food and fuel prices, EU cooperation with third countries in migration matters, where there are important projects Romania promoted in the Black Sea area or the Republic of Moldova, the requirement to continue the debates at the EU level, on the improvement of the social inclusion of the Rroma community, the developments in the Western Balkans or the eastern dimension of the neighbourliness policy and surely the absolutely necessary talks on the future of the EU building, in the context of the negative vote the Irish cast on the Lisbon Treaty," ForMin Comanescu pointed out.
The participants in the GAERC meeting also discussed several interesting issues important to the EU’s foreign agenda, such as the Peace Process in the Middle East, the situation in Lebanon, Iran (where EU High Representative Javier Solana presented a report on his recent visit to Tehran), Georgia, Afghanistan, China the peace initiatives in the African area of the Great Lakes and others, ForMin Comanescu concluded.
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