Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan declared on Friday, January 23, at Digi 24, that, regarding the EU-Mercosur trade agreement, the decision was taken by mutual agreement between the Government and the Presidency, based on existing data.
Questioned about the grievances of some of the Coalition partners, who complained that they had not been consulted, the head of the Government explained:
“Regarding Mercosur, it was a decision that was taken by mutual agreement between the Government and the Presidency, based on the data we had, based on the discussions between the line ministries in the specialized commissions, and regardless of what is said about Mercosur in one subject or another, I believe that when you make such an agreement, it is a projection that belongs to the European Commission, all the discussions related to Mercosur were held in the groups in the European Parliament, on the last hundred meters, because some changes were made to the agreement with Mercosur, in the sense that some additional guarantees were granted for the protection of farmers, because this Mercosur agreement is not only an agricultural agreement, it is a large commercial agreement“, declared Ilie Bolojan.â
“There was no dispute.
Bolojan denied that there were tensions in the decision-making process.
“There was no dispute. I think that on December 19, when there were discussions in the European Council, including the Mercosur component, Mr. President was at the meeting, he announced Romania’s position in the press conference, there was no declaration of anything. I agree that any important decision that is taken for Romania, the wider the consultation, the greater the base of support.”Ilie Bolojan also said.
According to the prime minister, this agreement would be a good thing for the EU:
“And, in order to have subsidies in agriculture, the European economy must function, for someone to pay these subsidies to the European Commission, so that they can be distributed to farmers – and I explained this before, Mercosur agreement it is an agreement that means important opportunities for the European Union, for Romania, not necessarily direct, but for Romania indirectly, because two important markets were coming together, the European Union with 450 million inhabitants, Mercosur with 270, and it would have meant a bigger market”.
