On Tuesday 1 January Romania took over the EU presidency succeeding Austria. The usual rotation takes place at a turbulent time for the bloc with Jean-Claude Juncker having just claimed he doesn’t have confidence in their ability to do it.
Whilst Romania has typically been one of the EU’s consistently europhile countries, their left-wing government has been changing to sound more nationalistic like nearby Hungary and Poland, becoming more populist by the day.
Brussels has been in dispute with Bucharest over a number of things including disputes over controversial reforms that critics say undermine the rule of law and are “unfair” as Liviu Dragnea the head of the Social Democrats (PSD) has said. He has claimed Brussels is denying Bucharest the “right to hold its own opinions”.
Juncker, in the midst of his own controversy over private flights, stated to Die Welt on 29 December that even if Romania was “technically well prepared” for the presidency, the “Bucharest government has not fully understood what it means to preside over the countries of the EU”.
The EU presidency “requires a willingness to listen to others and a willingness to put one’s own concerns in the background. I have some doubts about this”, he said.
Romania’s first time as EU president comes at a time the Union faces some challenging issues, with Brexit, the EU parliamentary elections and the budget.
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