DACIAN DRAGON GUARDING EUROPE

On January 1, 2019, Romania assumed the presidency of the Council of the European Union (CEU), one of the main European institutions with important legislative (along with the European Parliament) and executive powers.

Depending on topic of discussions, ministers from twenty-seven EU member states take part in the CEU meetings, also called the Council of Ministers. Chairman of this body is the incumbent prime minister of the presiding country. So, Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila will fulfil the functions in January 1–June 30.

Since 2000, each full member of the EU has presided over the council for a period of six months. But perhaps never before has the process of the transfer of powers become so difficult and scandalous.

Changing moods

European Union has been closely watching how Romania has been implementing its recommendations on bringing domestic legislation in conformity with European norms since the country’s accession to the EU in 2007. In general, there were no particular complications.

In 2017, a coalition of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALD) took over the Romanian parliament and government, which has been trying to carry out a number of legislative reforms, including in the judiciary system, since assuming the power in the country. This has triggered the largest street protests in Romania since the 1989 revolution as nationwide mass rallies follow each other for the last two years.

President Klaus Iohannis, who has repeatedly called for the dissolution of the current government, does not approve the actions of executive and legislative authorities either. However, the parliament rejected twice last year the vote of no confidence in the Dancila government, which is supported by the head of SDP and the chairman of the lower house in the Parliament, Liviu Dragnea.

In spring 2018, the relationship between the president and the ruling coalition became so poor that Prime Minister Dancila did not accept the offer of Klaus Iohannis to meet him. In turn, Iohannis said that he would not hold informal meetings with the SDP leader Liviu Dragnea, as "he is no longer a partner for dialogue at informal level. Our relations now become exclusively institutional in nature. We do not meet as friends or people sympathising each other, but high government positions require that we hold a dialogue. Therefore, the dialogue between the president and the government, the president and the parliament must continue."

Perhaps, it was the quality of this dialogue that has influenced the views of President Iohannis on the readiness of Romania to lead the CEU. In fact, his views have changed every month.

The EU leaders have also made equally contradictory statements about the readiness of Romania. The November report of the European Commission noted that the reforms carried out in Romania endanger the independence of judges and the principle of separation of powers. This report was one of the most critical ones about the country since it joined the EU in 2007.

"I think the Bucharest government has not fully understood what it means to preside over the countries of the EU. Prudent action requires a willingness to listen to others and a strong desire to put one's own concerns to one side. I have doubts that this is the case with Romania," Jean-Claude Juncker asserted recently.

Brussels was so sceptical about the aptitude of Romania that Finland, which should lead the CEU starting from July 1, gently hinted at its willingness to replace Romania.

At the end of 2018, it became known that EC has been tacitly working on the possibilities to severely restrict the managerial functions of Romania during its leadership of CEU.

However, in December, the attitude of European officials changed, at least outwardly, as they began to declare that Bucharest was very much ready for a new role. Perhaps, it was these pressing statements that eventually have changed the tone of the Romanian president.

Sharp response

Bucharest reacted painfully to the EC report. Premier Dancila expressed her surprise that EU leaders were trying to "ban Romania on what is allowed in other states of the Union" and demand that Romania "turn a blind eye to that which is unacceptable in other European states". "We want to be your equal partner," she said, asserting that her government has to contend with "a secret conspiracy between the special services and the justice authorities, who falsify evidence and blackmail witnesses forcing them to give false testimony."

Dancila also disagree with accusations of violent suppression of demonstrations, explaining the tough actions of the gendarmerie by the need to prevent attempts to forcibly seize the government building. According to Dancila, the actions of the Romanian gendarmerie are no different from the actions of the police in Belgium, France, Spain, Germany or the UK, where illegal demonstrations are suppressed no less brutally.

Dragon against inequality

January is in full swing. Romania has been in charge of the Council of the European Union for two weeks now, and this has not caused any particular complications so far. It's time to learn about the priorities that the country has determined for its term of presidency in one of the important European institutions.

The motto of this six-month presidency period will be "Cohesion as a common European value". According to Romanian leaders, this implies, above all, economic cohesion between European states, which should aim for reduction of inequalities in the development and strengthening of the single market.

Bucharest understands that there is natural competition between states and regions of Europe, but believes that accelerated growth in less developed countries can be used as a tool to strengthen the EU. This will help reduce labour migration from the underdeveloped to the most developed regions.

"The development of poorer regions will also contribute to the improvement of purchasing power in these regions of Europe and, as a result, more attractive sales markets for products manufactured within the union," Mrs. Dancila said as an example of the concept of cohesion in the EU.

But Romania chose a rather bellicose logo for this peaceful motto - an image of a Dacian dragon with a wolf's head and a snake's body.

Dacian tribes that once inhabited the territories of Romania and Moldova became known for the first time thanks to the Greek chronicles of the 5^th century BC. There are several hypotheses about the origin and meaning of the word Dacian, one of them being 'wolf'. All of them mention that the Dacians were a warlike and brave people. According to the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, under the military flag, which showed the head of a wolf on the body of a snake, Dacians fought bravely with numerous enemies and with a smile on their lips when they died.

Difficult period

We do not know how belligerent Dacians would behave in modern Europe, but their descendants will have to be at the centre of the European decision-making process in the next six months, playing an important role in the efforts to develop and consolidate the European project and strengthen cooperation among the member states.

Europe is facing and has to solve very complex and challenging tasks during this period: settlement of the Brexit, migration issue, adoption of the EU budget, which many countries are dissatisfied with, elections of the presidents of the European Parliament, European Council and European Commission, as well as the EU High Commissioner for Foreign Affairs and Security...

After the UK leaves the EU on March 29, Romania will host the summit of the EU-27 leaders scheduled for May 9 in one of the most important cultural and religious centres of the country, the city of Sibiu. This meeting will discuss such sensitive issues as the life after Brexit and the upcoming European elections in May 23-26.

Reliable partner of Azerbaijan

During her visit to Baku last spring, Romanian Deputy Prime Minister Ana Birchall said that Azerbaijan played a significant role in implementing strategic projects important for Europe, and therefore Bucharest is interested in expanding cooperation and strengthening relations between Azerbaijan and the EU. The same idea was voiced during the fifth meeting of the intergovernmental commission, which took place in Bucharest in September.

Bucharest and Baku have long-standing friendly relations. Romania was the second country after Turkey, which officially recognised the independence of Azerbaijan on December 11, 1991. Azerbaijan opened its first embassy in Eastern Europe in Romania. In 2009, Romania was also the first among the EU member states to sign a joint declaration with Azerbaijan on the establishment of strategic partnership.

Azerbaijan has large-scale economic projects jointly with the EU at the implementation and development stage, and Romania is actively involved in several of them. This includes, above all, the AGRI gas pipeline system project (Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romanian Interconnector), which is supposed to take Azerbaijani gas to Europe through the Romanian port of Constanta.

In March 2019, during the presidency of Romania over CEU, the EU and Azerbaijan will sign a new agreement on partnership and cooperation. The current agreement, signed in 1996, no longer meets modern realities.

It turns out that Romania is going to fight, but not to die for common European interests.