Direcția Purtător de Cuvânt și Relații cu Mass-media

27 noiembrie 2023

Comunicat de presă
Participarea ministrului afacerilor externe Luminița Odobescu la Seminarul
privind Uniunea Europeană și politica de extindere

Ministrul afacerilor externe Luminița Odobescu a participat luni, 27 noiembrie 2023, la

deschiderea seminarului privind Uniunea Europeană și politica de extindere, cu titlul
Necessary And (Im)Possible: What The Eu Really Thinks About Enlargement,
eveniment organizat de think-tank-urile European Council for Foreign Relations și
GlobalFocus Center, cu sprijinul Ministerului Afacerilor Externe.
În intervenția sa, ministrul afacerilor externe a prezentat poziţia României, de susţinere
a procesului de extindere a Uniunii Europene, cu precădere în contextul actual marcat
de crize suprapuse atât în plan regional cât şi internaţional. În context, a evidențiat
faptul că procesul de extindere reprezintă o investiţie geostrategică pentru menţinerea
şi dezvoltarea păcii, stabilităţii şi prosperităţii în Europa valorilor democratice comune.
Şeful diplomaţiei române a subliniat, totodată, poziția României favorabilă continuării
accelerate a procesului de extindere a UE, bazat pe meritele proprii ale candidaţilor, în
paralel cu procesul instituţional intern necesar pentru a pregăti Uniunea să primească
noi membri.
În context, ministrul Luminiţa Odobescu a reiterat sprijinul pentru adoptarea, până la
finalul acestui an, a deciziilor necesare deschiderii negocierilor de aderare cu Ucraina
şi Republica Moldova, în conformitate cu realizările remarcabile ale celor doi candidaţi
recunoscute de către Comisia Europeană prin evaluările pozitive publicate la 8
noiembrie 2023.
Totodată, şeful diplomaţiei române a reiterat sprijinul pentru avansarea parcursului
european al Balcanilor de Vest, în conformitate cu metodologia extinderii, precum şi
necesitatea ca opţiunea pro-europeană strategică a partenerilor din Balcanii de Vest să
fie asumată de aceştia în baza promovării şi aplicării valorilor europene, cu precădere
în contextul amenințărilor asimetrice la adresa regiunii, ca efect al agresiunii Rusiei
împotriva Ucrainei.
Redăm, mai jos, transcriptul discursului susținut de ministrul afacerilor externe
Luminița Odobescu în deschiderea evenimentului:

Aleea Modrogan nr. 14, Sector 1

011822 București, România
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Tel.: +40 21 431 1377 Mobil: +40 721 270 845
E-mail: presa.@mae.ro
Web: www.mae.ro
Good morning,
Your Excellencies,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, dear colleagues,

It gives me a great pleasure to address this distinguished audience on such a timely and
challenging topic as the EU Enlargement.
I thank the European Council for Foreign Relations and Global Focus for their active
engagement in the current debates. The stakeholders, academia, civil society, think-
tanks and policy-makers are our partners in finding the most appropriate solutions to be
able to advance enlargement, in difficult times. And special thanks to the National
Bank of Romania for this beautiful location.
Ever since Russia launched its brutal war of aggression against Ukraine, the world has
ceased to be a safe place. We also witnessed the Middle East rising conflict and
worrying humanitarian situation on the ground. Insecurity, radicalism, migration, the
economic situation, climate change are all interconnected. All these bring their fair
share of challenges to us.
All these overlapping crises lead us to only one conclusion: we all need to remain
focused and united towards preserving stability, security, our freedoms and our long
standing set of values and principles.
The European perspective of both the Western Balkans and of our Eastern partners is
the only sound option for long-term peace, stability and prosperity. I believe that
nobody should be left behind. Neither the Western Balkans countries nor our Eastern
partners, Ukraine, Republic of Moldova and Georgia.
We cannot afford to leave them in the sphere of aggressive actors, particularly now,
when democracy is on edge and security in the region is very fragile.
Dear colleagues,
Against the backdrop of the ongoing military aggression of the Russian Federation
against Ukraine, in the strategic neighbourhood of the EU, a strong common
understanding inside the Union took shape: EU enlargement should be re-dynamized
as a strong part of the EU tool-box to properly answer unprecedented and dramatic
geopolitical developments.
Together, we have come to restate that “enlargement is a geostrategic investment in
peace, stability and prosperity.”
This message was unequivocally sent by the European leaders in Granada, as well as
by the European Commission in the latest Enlargement Package, a historic moment, as
the first such package to include an evaluation for our three Eastern Partners – Ukraine,

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the Republic of Moldova and Georgia – which last year embarked upon a European
membership path.
It is the same message that is being relayed to our partners in the Western Balkans, as
well – they belong to the European family.
In this context, the recent Enlargement Package as a whole is a key input to the
advancement of the enlargement policy, based on the candidates’ merits, while the
individual country reports offer to each enlargement partner the necessary guidance on
the priorities of actions for the short and medium term future.
Granted, we all know that EU membership does not happen overnight, but for instance,
the progress achieved by Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova since the submission of
their respective applications has been remarkable – especially during a time of full-
blown war, with particularly dramatic consequences.
Romania, you all know, pays a special attention to the European perspective of
Western Balkans region as well.
I recently completed a three days visit to the Western Balkans, covering Albania, North
Macedonia and Montenegro.
I was there not only to reiterate our strong support for their European path, but also to
put forward further concrete proposals from our side, with the view of securing solid
and irreversible achievements in many accession negotiation areas, decisive for
meeting the requirements of EU membership.
I was extremely pleased to see that my interlocutors from all three capitals expressed a
firm commitment to their European future. They reiterated their political willingness to
continue to implement the necessary benchmarks, paying attention also to the quality
and sustainability of the reforms. At the same time, they expressed their hope for a
strong and visible political message from the EU and member states, in recognition of
their efforts.
The main message I conveyed to them was that, despite the inherent frustration and
difficulties along the way, the European path is worth every effort. At the end of the
day, this process of EU integration has transformative power across their entire
societies and its concrete benefits will soon start being felt by every citizens. And for
that, we all need to do more for a proactive and positive communication to the public
opinion in the Western Balkans that is necessary in order to maintain the citizens’
support for the European integraton process. To do so, we should also continue to use
the various fora of regional and sub-regional cooperation in order to deploy an
integrated set of political, economic and operational instruments in support of the
Western Balkans.
Dear friends,
A few remarks on the various aspects of the current debate on the future of Europe,
enlargement and institutional matters:

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Firstly, in December, we need to act courageously and take the political decisions our
partners expect. Then engage without hesitation in a difficult process that will remain
rules and merits based throughout.
We are not talking in terms of “geopolitical” versus “merits”. Is is true that the
geopolitical arguments in favor of enlargement are even stronger today than they were
20 years ago. But enlargement is not only about geopolitics. Our Union is, first and
foremost, a community of shared values, principles and norms. Political will, European
strategic orientation and assuming EU values is even more relevant today, as new
challenges have emerged.
Secondly, on a wider note, this debate is neither about enlargement versus EU internal
track. We see them as complementary.
We see EU enlargement and the debate on institutional reforms as parallel processes.
We pursue to make our Union stronger. Enlargement and reform can and should
advance without preconditions, at their own pace, following their own mechanisms and
rules. Both processes – enlargement and enhancing the EU’s capacity to act – are
poised to make our Union a more relevant and geopolitical actor, both in our strategic
neighbourhood and on the world stage.
Thirdly, enlargement is a process beneficial to the EU and its current member states.
As such, I am confident that an enlarged EU has the potential to be a stronger and more
relevant actor on the global world.
It is true that these are complicated times we live in. But we should stand our ground.
EU citizens and citizens of our enlargement partners expect us to act in a resolute
manner to respond to their main concerns. On enlargement per se and on many other
instances, we need to show them that we are ready to move from declarative
approaches to real work and decisions for the benefit of the Union and our like-minded
partners – and this is what we need to do.
This is why Romania firmly supports adopting in December the decision for the
opening of the accession negotiations with R. Moldova and Ukraine. We also consider
that Georgia should continue to enjoy our support in order to advance on its European
path, and at the same time we fully support advances of the European path of our
Western Balkans partners.
These reflections are anything but easy. They require thorough analysis – so, the more
we engage in looking at all the relevant dimensions, the better we will be equipped to
understand and internalise both the opportunities and the challenges that emerge. But
forging a common understanding on all the complex topics on our agenda and reaching
common decisions will benefit us all.
We are ready to do so, to help and assist all our partners in the neighborhood, by all
available methods, in order to achieve our common goal: a 30+ stronger and more
prosperous European Union for the generations to come.

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