Radio Romania International

Archives:

REPORT OF THE DAY: THE ROMANIANS WANT THE EU TO PLAY A PROMINENT ROLE IN THE WORLD 22/09/2010
(2010-09-29)
Last updated: 2010-09-30 18:39 EET Print
In November 2009, the 27 EU leaders designated Belgian prime minister Herman Van Rompuy President of the European Union and British Commissioner for Trade, Catherine Ashton as High Representative for Foreign Policy and Security Affairs. The decision to have a mandate of president and one of foreign minister, as well as a 10- year strategy on the development of the member states could be a sign that the Union is ready to assume the role that some of its citizens aspire to. Nevertheless, recently, France, one of the founding members of the Union has firmly reiterated its sovereignty. French State Secretary for European Affairs, Pierre Lellouche has said Paris should not give explanations to the EU or any other member state on any domestic issues, such as the expatriation of the Roma. It is not the first such attitude shown by a European member state. When the issue of saving Greece from the deep financial crisis it was facing came under discussion, Germany stood against the decision “to sponsor the economic inefficiency” of some EU member states. None of those voices was heard however when a plan to save all countries in the Euro zone came under discussion. In this context, we’ve asked euro-MP Cristina Preda, of the EPP group what chances the EU stands to play the role of leader on the world stage. Preda is optimistic about that issue: ”The union tries to position itself as leader on the world stage. We should however admit that this is more difficult for the union than for a country with a single party, such as China, or for a country which boasts a long-standing foreign policy tradition, like the USA. Europe is still a political ensemble, made up of 27 members with distinct profiles. For several years now politiciansă have tried to give the foreign policy a unitary and more solid character. On the other hand, there are challenges that determine the union to define its position in relation to those global players or to those who hope to become global players one day. I for one am optimistic. I believe that in less than a decade, the union will have a better-defined profile and its role in international policy will be more important than it was 10 years ago. I count on the effect of the accumulations made in recent years. The Lisbon Treaty is an important instrument and I believe that by offering those instruments, using the ambitions and resources that it has, the union will play a much more important role that it does now.” Average people say however that they are mainly concerned about the present than about the future of the union. 63% of the Romanians say their country’s accession to the EU is a good thing. Almost 90% of the respondents say they are deeply affected by the economic crisis and hardly expect Brussels to manage that crisis. Those slightly contradictory aspects create a distinct profile of the Romanians in the general European picture.

		WMA
	64kbps :	1 2 3
	128kbps :	1 2 3
		MP3
	64kbps :	1 2 3
	128kbps :	1 2 3
		AAC+
	48kbps :	1 2 3
	64kbps :	1 2 3

Listen again
to RRI's broadcasts


Listen Here
These are the hours when you can listen to the programmes broadcast by the English Service of RRI.
Time (UTC)	12.00 - 13.00
01.00 - 02.00	18.00 - 19.00
04.00 - 05.00	21.30 - 22.00
06.30 - 07.00	23.00 - 24.00

Weather Forecast

Historical mascot of RRI

© 1999 - 2011 Copyright Radio Romania International