Romanian president Nicușor Dan attends European Council meeting about “two-speed Europe,” energy cost

President Nicușor Dan participated on Thursday, February 12, in the informal meeting of the European Council at Alden Biesen Castle in Belgium, where the "two-speed Europe" project was debated. If approved, the project would see a closer union between some of the EU’s member states.

“This should not scare us. Europe with multiple speeds, or at least as the idea stands at the moment, is simply a meeting of countries, as was the meeting before, in which countries that have certain ideas coordinate in order to put together a proposal on the Council’s table. There should be no concern here,” Dan said before the meeting.

Other topics were also to be discussed at the meeting, where Romania planned to promote the issue of the cost of energy, according to the president, as it impacts competitiveness. The president explained that differences in competitiveness between the EU, the US, and China arise from the cost of energy, which, in turn, is caused by failures of the single energy market.

“An issue that is very much discussed and important for Romania is the price of energy and the speed with which we should move forward with the green transition. We are among the countries that want this process to be slower, so that industries that are major energy consumers have time,” the president said, according to Euronews Romania.

Finally, Romania's aim was to convince EU partners to distribute the funds for competitiveness within the 2028–2034 multiannual budget based on geographical criteria so as not to deepen the gap between developed and less developed countries.

“It is very good that in the multiannual budget, as the project currently stands, there are many funds for competitiveness, but if the criteria are strictly competitive, then let us be very honest: Romania and many countries at the EU’s border will not have great chances to access this money. Then the gap will deepen, it will widen,” Nicușor Dan said.

"The simplest example is Horizon. We had an EU research and development program from which Romania received practically nothing," he concluded.

In addition to the president of Romania, leaders from Italy, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Hungary, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia ,and Denmark also attended the meeting. EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen was present as well.

(Photo source: Nicușor Dan on Facebook)