Presentation of Romanian Presidencies Priorities

The Romanian six-month Presidency will act in accordance with the overall programme of the so-called “Trio” of Presidencies (Romania, Finland and Croatia)[1] to ensure continuity of work of the Strategic Agenda for the Union in Times of Change.

Romania took over the Presidency in times of many challenges, including the planned withdrawal of the UK from the EU, the upcoming European Elections in May, and ongoing negotiations on crucial dossiers such as the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).

Presidency priorities

a)  Brexit

The Romanian Presidency will work towards maintaining the unity of the 27 Member States and ensuring orderly withdrawal of the UK, as well as will aim at building a close future UK-EU relationship.

b)  Multiannual FinancialFramework

The Presidency will take important steps regarding the MFF dossier and will contribute to defining principles for the post-2020 multiannual financial cycle, in order to provide the Union with the necessary resources for the 2021-2027 period.

c)  Health sector

Underlining the importance of “Guaranteeing access to healthcare for all European citizens’’, the programme lists the following objectives:

• Promoting universal access to treatment for all Europeans;
  
• Fighting antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and associated infections, with a goal to: advance discussions on the One Health approach[2] to risks to the health of humans, animals and ecosystem; to propose a set of Council conclusions on fighting AMR and hospital-acquired infections;
  
• Improving vaccination coverage, by facilitating best practices and expertise exchange;
  
• Reducing medication abuse;
  
• Improving control of transmissible diseases;
  
• Continuing efforts to ensure patients’ access to medication;
  
• Encourage cooperation at EU level regarding patient mobility.
  

The Romanian Presidency aims to foster continuous negotiations on Health Technology Assessment (HTA),on supplementary protection certificates for medicinal productsas well as on the proposal for a Regulation on the European Social Fund (EFS+).

Regarding eHealth (healthcare digitization), the programme provides information on plans to organise a meeting of Member States’ Health Ministers and the eHealth Network.

d)  Research& Innovation (R&D) and digitalisation

The Presidency will promote Council conclusions on the long-term vision for the EU’s industrial policy, with a focus on artificial intelligence (AI) and digital transformation. Its objectives includes to:

• Promote industry digitalisation and artificial intelligence (AI), and promote European solutions aimed to reduce R&D performance and digital gaps between Member States and regions;
• Advance negotiations on the Horizon Europe dossier;
• Support the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) and the European Innovation Council (EIC);
• Organise debates on an ethical and legal framework for AI.

[1] Each of the three countries will hold the Council’s Presidency for a period of 6 months. “Trios” prepare an overall programme for a 18-month period to ensure continuity of actions.

[2] The “One Health” approach aims to achieving better public health outcomes, recognizing that the health of humans is connected to the health of animals and the environment.