The Romanian Parliament considers that the European Council President Herman Van Rompuy’s proposal to cut the budget does not reflect Romania’s objectives. Along similar lines, Bucharest has two major reasons of discontent. The Romanian Minister for European Affairs, Leonard Orban, explained this had to do, first and foremost, with the correlation the EU has made between the cohesion policy, the management of the future EU budget and the rate of absorption of EU funds provided from the current budget, a measure applied to Romania alone.

Leonard Orban: “This proposal, in its current form, is simply discriminatory against a Member State and is unfair”.

The Romanian official also voiced discontent with respect to fund slashes in the field of agriculture, which are due to affect direct payments to farmers. In this context there arises the issue of Romania using its veto rights. President Traian Basescu argues that Romania risks failing at the negotiations table if it resorts to such measures:

Traian Basescu: “Romania’s interest is to negotiate the budget. If we ground our arguments on our veto rights, we will be henceforth excluded from negotiations. Everyone will avoid us and in the end we will have to take responsibility over our actions, because we’re not the only ones seeking allies. Others need us just as much as we need them to support our viewpoints. And Romania, as the seventh country invited to join negotiations, has the capacity to change things”.

This point of view hasn’t been shared by Prime Minister Victor Ponta.

Victor Ponta: “Romania’s national interest cannot be negotiated, nor can it be subject to compromise, as the president suggests. I believe it is our obligation to defend our legitimate interest and to be a respected country, treated equally at EU level”.

One day ahead of the European Council, pundits believe negotiations over the 2014-2020 budget will be harsh, while the 27 Member States already fear the prospect of failure.