Almost 70% of the respondents to on IRES opinion poll heard about Romania's rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2019, and 60% of them knew that Romania holds the EU presidency for six months. Meanwhile, 20% said Romania will hold the presidency for one year and 14% believe this will last for four years, local Mediafax reported.

The same study revealed that 78% of Romanians believe that holding the EU Council presidency is a good thing for Romania, and only 10% see it as a bad thing. In the same note, more than two-thirds of study participants (70%) believe that Romania will have much to gain from holding the EU presidency while 19% said the country would lose from this experience.

Most respondents (68%) think that Romania’s chances of becoming a full member of the Schengen area in 2019 are small and very small.

The IRES survey was carried out between January 7 and January 9, 2019, on a sample of 1,356 respondents.

The presidency of the Council rotates among the EU member states every six months, and Romania holds it in the first half of this year, until the end of June. It is the first time that Romania holds the Council rotating presidency.

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Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Gov.ro)