President Dan: EU enlargement to Moldova, Ukraine and Western Balkans is not an act of charity, it is an investment in security

President Nicusor Dan on Friday said the enlargement of the European Union to Moldova, Ukraine and the Western Balkans is not ‘an act of charity’ but an investment in security.

The statement was made at the high level conference ‘Cohesion 2027+: a driver of long term development, inclusive economic competitiveness and resilience across Europe,’ organised in Bucharest.

‘There are two words we will hear for a long time from now on: economy and security. Economy, because global competition has become much more intense, and security because we have also seen that the rules based international order is being questioned. On the economic side there is a very simple rule, the small are less competitive than the large, and because of this Europe has suffered, the European economy and all of us have suffered greatly because we are still fragmented, and it is in our interest, all of us, that the single market be strengthened so that the European economy is more competitive and therefore ours as well,’ said Nicusor Dan.

The head of state also spoke about competitiveness and performance in innovation.

‘The second thing, and again I am speaking about Europe, is that we suffer in terms of competitiveness because we are not sufficiently high performing in innovation. And here, of course, the multiannual financial framework speaks a great deal about this area of research, development and innovation, only, and this is my message, we must pay attention to disparities because if competition ignores the development context of the members of the European Union we will see a competition won by the strongest and a widening of the gap between the more developed and the less developed countries, which will lead to frustration and social tensions that take us into a zone of security risk. So one of my important messages is that in the area of research, development and innovation we must take into account the specific conditions each country has and our objective is to ensure that the economy in the European area progresses in each member state,’ he said.

Nicusor Dan mentioned that Romania will support the enlargement of the European Union.

‘On security, we are all responding to a necessity. This necessity is more present on the eastern flank and I welcome the Commission’s focus on the eastern flank. The final thing I want to say on security is that EU enlargement to Moldova, Ukraine and the Western Balkans is not an act of charity, it is an investment in security. And Romania will support it. Of course these countries must align with a set of standards, perhaps we look somewhat strictly at them, but they are standards defined by the Union and for those countries that have the will and the desire, especially the Republic of Moldova, which has the will to join the European Union, Romania is a strong supporter. We have an intense year ahead,’ the head of state added. AGERPRES (RO – writing by: Dana Piciu; EN – writing by: Adina Panaitescu)