Romania is due to to take over the EU presidency in 2019, but the country will not be ready until then and it is hard to believe reform can be done in six years, said Varujan Vosganian, the Economy Minister and vice-president of the National Liberal Party PNL. In 2019, Romania would in theory have to show its maturity and show it is really part of the European Union. “Our ministers will lead the councils in Brussels, and departments in the ministries have to come up with evaluations, and offer ministers priorities,” according to Vosganian, quoted by local media.

Romania's administration is still inhibited by the economic crisis. “We're holding a wall by hand, preventing it from falling, and of course we will not be able to reach the door. Which is why the entire administration will have to get out of this obsession, our of its captivity of only mastering the crisis. The crisis can only be mastered via economic increase and relaxation,” Vosganian explained.

According to the EU scheduling, Romania will have to serve as president of the EU between July 1 and December 21 in 2019. Neighbor Bulgaria is scheduled to take the helm of the EU in July 2018. Until June 30, 2013, Ireland holds the EU presidency, and then next in line is Lithuania. The EU member states on 13 December 2004 agreed the list of the next EU presidencies up until the year 2020.

The Presidency of the Council of the European Union is responsible for the functioning of the Council of the European Union, the upper house of the EU legislature. It rotates among the member states of the EU every six months. The presidency is not an individual, but rather the position is held by a national government, and three successive presidencies, known as presidency trios, cooperate for an 18-month period to provide continuity by sharing common political programmes. According to the planning, Romania would have to cooperate with Austria and Finland, which hold the presidency before, and respectively after Romania.

editor@romania-insider.com