Press release 15-01-2019 - 18:28 Reference No: 20190109IPR23015 Romanian Presidency of the Council: debate with Prime Minister Viorica Dăncilă Competitiveness, digitization, protection and the safety of citizens will be the focus of the Romanian presidency of the Council, said Prime Minister Dăncilă. During the next six months, the Romanian presidency will aim for better political and economic cohesion between member states and will commit to work towards reducing development gaps between regions, supporting economic growth and digitization, especially for European industry. Coherent management of migration flows, strengthening the EU’s external borders and a better protection of citizens in virtual space will also be work priorities in the first semester of 2019. Setting up and even extending the mandate of the European Prosecutor’s Office to include terrorist offenses and better cooperation between countries of origin and transit countries on migration issues will also be on the agenda. The Prime Minister underlined the Romanian government’s commitment to move forward on EU enlargement matters, with particular attention paid to the Western Balkans and a focus on common European values. MEPs of all political groups underlined that they stood ready to work hand in hand with the presidency to move forward on European legislative matters in priority areas, pointing out that the Romanian government must do more to promote European values by being more politically stable and consistent. To watch videos of speakers’ statements, click on the names: Antonio TAJANI, EP President and Viorica DANCILA, Romanian Prime Minister Andrus ANSIP, Vice-President of the European Commission Theodor Dumitru STOLOJAN (EPP, RO) Udo BULLMANN (S&D, DE) Press Service, Directorate General for Communication 1 I 3 European Parliament - Spokesperson: Jaume DUCH GUILLOT EN Press switchboard number (32-2) 28 33000 Press release Helga STEVENS (ECR, BE) Guy VERHOFSTADT (ALDE, BE) Ska KELLER (Greens/EFA, DE) Neoklis SYLIKIOTIS (GUE/NGL, CY) Rolandas PAKSAS (EFDD, LT) Georg MAYER (ENF, AT) Andrus ANSIP, closing statement Viorica DANCILA , closing statement Further information Presentation of Romanian Presidency’s work programme Watch the press conference (15.01.2019 à 17h00) Multimedia products - Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU Website of the Romanian Presidency of the Council Antonio TAJANI welcomes Viorica DĂNCILĂ - arrival Contacts Cornelia GUSA Press Officer (+32) 2 28 32601 (BXL) (+33) 3 881 73784 (STR) (+32) 473 52 54 62 [email protected] Michaela FINDEIS Press Officer / Editorial Coordinator for Plenary (+32) 2 28 31141 (BXL) (+33) 3 881 73603 (STR) (+32) 498 98 33 32 [email protected] Press Service, Directorate General for Communication 2 I 3 European Parliament - Spokesperson: Jaume DUCH GUILLOT EN Press switchboard number (32-2) 28 33000 Press release Debate with Prime Minister Viorica Dăncilă on priorities of the Romanian Presidency of the Council ©EU 2019 - EP Press Service, Directorate General for Communication 3 I 3 European Parliament - Spokesperson: Jaume DUCH GUILLOT EN Press switchboard number (32-2) 28 33000.