PM Orban: I believe Romanian MEPs should coordinate standpoints to support the country's interests

Prime Minister Ludovic Orban stated on Wednesday that at the European Parliament level all the representatives of Romania, regardless of the party they belong to, should have a very close dialogue and they should coordinate their standpoints in order to support the country's interests.

On the second day of his working visit to Brussels, PM Orban met with the Romanian MEPs.

"I made the decision to invite all the Romanian MEPs to this meeting, both those in the EPP [European People's Party] group and those in the Renew group, and in the Socialist group. I was glad that very many MEPs responded to the invitation, I wanted to have this discussion because I believe that at the European Parliament level we should have a very close dialogue, coordinate our standpoints, support Romania's interests because, after all, every MEP represents Romania and when an agreement can be achieved in which it is established that we have very clear interests there should be a coordination of standpoints and cooperation among MEPs for supporting Romania's interests," Orban told a news conference at the Permanent Representation of Romania to the EU.

He mentioned having "a very interesting discussion with the MEPs, in which many views were voiced regarding many topics," discussion that will be repeated.

"It's extremely important that such meetings take place, because, certainly, in the country we are in competition, many times we take this competition beyond some limits, but in terms of the apolitical action at the EU level we should cooperate and unite our efforts, try to use the influence which each political party has at the political group level and at the level of other officials of European institutions, so that we can influence the decisions made at European level, so that these decisions generate advantages for the Romanians," the PM stated.

Ludovic Orban also had a meeting on Wednesday with Executive Vice-President of the European Commission Valdis Dombrovskis, to whom he presented the situation of Romania's budget and deficit.

"I've presented the situation in a realistic manner, I've presented the causes which determined this deficit, which clearly wasn't caused by our governance, but a deficit caused by the budget policy put in practice by the former governances. What was important is that I've presented the measures we want to take in order to correct the budget deficit, also, in order to try to ensure the macroeconomic balances, correct the major imbalances left by the former government," Orban stated.