Romania would have major gains after the success of MEPs Nicu Ștefănuță and Victor Negrescu, such as an easier path to full accession to the Schengen free movement area.
Nicu Stefanuta was elected vice-president of PE FOTO Eduard Enea
Nicu Ștefănuță and Victor Negrescu were both appointed vice-presidents in the new European Parliament, a first for Romania, supported by the Greens and Socialists respectively, which could bring advantages to our country.
Nicu Ștefănuță, vice-president of the European Parliament supported by the green party, discussed his appointment, the benefits for Romania of having two vice-presidents in the EP and the possible impact on Romania’s accession to the terrestrial Schengen area, in an interview for Antena 3 CNN .
“I will work on the topics I did and the campaign, on the housing crisis for young people, young people can no longer afford a house, we don’t have enough social housing, rent is very expensive in Cluj, in Bucharest, in Timișoara, in Iași , in many cities bank loans are very, very expensive. So I will work on this dimension, which is very important, and I will also work on the themes that are specific to me, mental health, settlement of therapy in Romania, because we have a mental health crisis, women’s rights and stopping violence against women , guaranteeing the right to abortion, many of these topics that I campaigned on at home. Public transport – we have suffocated cities, we have climate changes that turn our weather upside down, we have unprecedented heatwaves and storms (…) We have to fight for more Romanians to be among officials, to have top positions, to have positions driving. I don’t like the rhetoric of some politicians, who somehow blame Brussels, forgetting that we are also part of this machine, of this mechanism. Here we have two vice-presidents, 33 MEPs, a commissioner, a veto vote in the Council, that is, we are not really the poor of Europe“, Ștefănuță pointed out in the interview.
Regarding the expectations for his term, Stefanuta expressed skepticism and concern about international and domestic challenges, including the ambivalent position of the US towards NATO and the rise of the far right. He stressed the importance of educating young voters to understand democracy and the electoral process.
Regarding the Schengen accession, Ștefănuță stated that he is confident that the land Schengen will be resolved after the parliamentary elections in Austria and mentioned the possibility of an agreement with the Austrian government, emphasizing that Romania is already in the maritime and air Schengen.
“I think we will have to wait for the parliamentary elections in Austria, which are this fall. As we saw the results from the European Parliament, the news is not great from Austria, but we don’t have much else to do now. And in the case of the Netherlands the results were quite bad in the elections, but still the Netherlands did not object. We might as well make a deal with Nehammer’s government right now. We have one foot in the bus, we are in maritime and air Schengen and then we still need the land one“, also said the independent MEP, Nicolae Ștefănuță.
