PM Orban - message on Europe Day: We can overcome pandemic crisis if all other countries overcome it

Prime Minister Ludovic Orban conveyed a message on Saturday on Europe Day, stressing the EU's need for solidarity. "It is 70 years since the then head of French diplomacy, Robert Schuman, read the Declaration that bears his name - a moment whose historical significance for today's European Union is celebrated on May 9 every year as Europe Day. At a distance of seven decades, the need for solidarity evoked in the text of the Schuman Declaration, when the whole continent was trying to recover from the war, is just as topical now, as the European society and economies are working to return to normalcy as soon as possible after the unprecedented crisis generated by the coronavirus pandemic. (...) We can overcome the pandemic crisis we have been facing for weeks if all other countries overcome it as well. Mutual support and joint action are essential to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and to limit the socio-economic consequences of the current period," Prime Minister Ludovic Orban's message reads. He recalls that, last year, the European leaders meeting in Sibiu, during Romania's first term as President of the Council of the European Union, sent a firm message of unity and desire to consolidate the European project. The Romanian Prime Minister emphasizes that European solidarity has proven to work, indicating coordinated actions for the repatriation of citizens of other Member States, patients taken from countries more severely affected to be treated, transport of basic medical supplies or teams of medics who helped their colleagues from other countries to save lives. "Romania has also been involved in such efforts and we are pleased with the appreciation shown at the top of the European institutions towards the gestures of solidarity of the member states," says Ludovic Orban. According to the head of the Executive, the creation of a strategic European reserve of medical supplies through the rescEU civil protection mechanism, the EU-approved economic aid plan for the benefit of Member States, the extension of the Union's Solidarity Fund also to health crises are proof of the European unity. "We are confident that other mechanisms will follow to strengthen the health care systems as the European economy recovers and that the European Union's next financial framework will reflect the new priorities. Strongly attached to its European destiny, Romania supports any efforts towards cohesive development and of the European solidarity, and once we all overcome the critical period let us return to normalcy more united, in a Europe closer to the citizens," the prime minister goes on to say. AGERPRES (RO - author: Florentina Peia, editor: Andreea Rotaru; EN - author/editor: Simona Iacob)