President Iohannis: PM Dancila managed to blow up Romania's relationship with Arab world as well

President Klaus Iohannis said on Monday that Prime Minister Viorica Dancila managed to blow up the relationship with the Arab world as well, showing that King Abdullah II of Jordan felt offended by Dancila's statements and therefore cancelled a planned visit to Romania. "Initially, I had a tight schedule. I had to leave here tonight to host a dinner for an important and dear guest: the King of Jordan had been scheduled to come, but because of the dilettantism of the prime minister who has spoiled our relationship with that region, that is no longer the case. The King of Jordan felt personally offended by the prime minister's approach at that conference in America [AIPAC conference], and cancelled his visit. That is a real problem to Romania, as I think you may realise. Romania had built a relationship of trust with the Arab world, which was one of the few constants, at least until yesterday, of Romania's foreign policy: whereas as a state Romania had a firm, correct attitude towards its partners, now the lady managed to blow this up as well. This is no joke, it is very, very sad. What for? For nothing," Iohannis told a debate called "The future of Romanian towns under the local development European concept," organised by the Association of Romanian Towns. The Presidential Administration said on Monday that the visit that King Abdullah II of Jordan was scheduled to pay to Romania was cancelled by the Jordanian side. "The President of Romania, Mr Klaus Iohannis, was to welcome this afternoon His Majesty, King Abdullah II of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, at the Cotroceni Palace as part of an official visit scheduled to take place in Romania. The visit was cancelled today by the Jordanian side," the Presidential Administration said in a press statement released on Monday. France's AFP news agency reported on Monday that Jordan's King Abdullah II cancelled a visit Monday to Romania after its prime minister vowed to move her country's embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, his office said. The king "decided to cancel his visit to Romania which was due to begin on Monday in solidarity with Jerusalem" following the announcement by Prime Minister Viorica Dancila, a royal court statement said. According to AFP, Dancila's promise, made on Sunday at the annual conference of the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC in Washington, broke with the position of both the European Union and her own president. According to the Jordanian National News Agency Petra, King Abdullah's visit to Romania, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, had been planned to include meetings with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis and parliament leaders. He had also been scheduled to participate in the Aqaba Meetings, which had been planned to be hosted by Romania in partnership with Jordan. It also reported that on the side-lines of the visit, the Jordanian and Romanian governments had been due to sign an agreement, two memorandums of understanding, and a cooperation programme, while a Jordanian-Romanian Business Forum had been planned to be held, with the participation of private sector representatives from the two countries. AGERPRES (RO - author: Florentina Peia, editor: Claudia Stanescu; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Adina Panaitescu)