During his recent trip to Brussels, Romania’s president Traian Basescu gave his support to the EU banking union and the Single Supervisory Mechanism, announced last week. Basescu’s announcement came after a meeting with European Commission (EC) president José Manuel Barroso, in which Romania’s political situation received sharp criticism and the need for the country to quell the concerns of its European partners was restated.

“He [President Barroso] made it clear that the European Commission will not compromise on the need for all member states to respect the rule of law, the independence of the judiciary and the respect for constitutional rulings,” reads the EC press release on the meeting.

The EC president also stressed the importance of meeting the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism objectives and added that the EC will be watching Romania closely. Presidents Basescu and Barroso also agreed on the necessity of an ambitious budget for the EU.

The two presidents (in picture) also discussed the plans for the European Central Bank, banking union and the new supervisory system. Following the meeting, Basescu said he supported the EC’s plans and described banking union as being in Romania’s best interests, given that eurozone banks account for 85 percent of the local banking sector. According to Basescu, involvement in the plans is important for Romania, even though the country has not yet joined the eurozone.

During the meeting EC president reiterated his support for Romania’s accession to the Schengen Area. He also mentioned the need for Romania to manage EU funding better or as the EC puts it, “the need for the Romanian authorities to reinforce current management of EU funds.”

Liam Lever, liam@romania-insider.com

photo source: europa.eu