Commissioner Cretu: Romania cannot afford the luxury of even thinking about leaving the EU

Romania "cannot afford the luxury of even contemplating leaving the European Union," European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu told a EuroImpact conference on Monday. 

"In recent years, I have understood that the communication part of the cohesion policy has to be an integral part of our common efforts. It is not communicating just about the existence of programmes or funding systems that, perhaps, are more abstract things to the everyday people, but to show people the concrete effects of optimising European funds," said Cretu. 

She added that there is now "an anti-European rhetoric that is getting increasingly more visible." 

"I believe that Romania cannot afford the luxury of even contemplating the idea of leaving the European Union especially now, when the presidency of the Council of the European Union is ahead of it, when it has the possibility as a European Union leader to change things for the better from inside," Cretu pointed out.