The president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, expressed her hope, in an interview granted to AGERPRES, that Romania's decision to combine the European Parliament elections with the local ones will lead to an increase in voting participation, but also to send a message from the local level to the European level for the members of the European Parliament to take with them to the EU legislature.

Metsola admitted that the Council's decision to only approve Romania's maritime and air border accession to the Schengen Area from March 31 this year comes much too late, but she asked the people not to lose hope and to vote in the elections in June, because the European Parliament is their partner in this endeavour.

Moreover, the president of the European Parliament let it be understood that she does not see with bad eyes the PSD (Social Democratic Party, ed. n.) and PNL (National Liberal Party,e d. n.) decision to run with a joint list in the European Parliament elections, stating that the grand coalition in which the European People's Party of the EP and the Social - Democrats, S&D - the European political families of the main parties in Romania - is the one that got the European Union through the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, and that it has always collaborated excellently with all Romanian members of the European legislature, regardless of party from which they came.

Last but not least, Roberta Metsola also said in the interview given to AGERPRES on Wednesday evening in Bucharest, on the occasion of the participation in the Congress of the European People's Party, that she is not worried about the so-called fatigue of the member states regarding the war in Ukraine, which it has been talked about at the European level, but only their eventual inability to explain their decisions regarding this conflict. She argues that it is clear that if Russian president Vladimir Putin did not want to stop either in 2008 or 2014 and has shown no signs of wanting to do so now, the lack of involvement will only make things worse.


AGERPRES: Romania will join the Schengen Area with sea and air borders from March 31st, an achievement that you yourself welcomed. However, many Romanians believe that the European Union delivered on the Schengen method too little, too late. Considering that Romania meets the technical conditions for accession since 2011. What is your message for these people who are expected to vote in the European elections?

Roberta Metsola: Well, that I understand them, that I have been talking about this since 2011 and they've had the European Parliament by their side, not only just the Romanian members of the European Parliament, but the whole European Parliament. That has said that once a country is in the European Union achieves all the conditions, then why should citizens from those countries feel discriminated against. You know, when I landed yesterday (on Tuesday, ed. n.) in Bucharest and I remembered that I needed to show my passport, I thought this is what Romanian citizens go through every day. So I welcomed the decision, final decision, still hoping that it will go through on the 31st of March and that we will immediately call for full access of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen Area immediately after that. This is something that is way too late. But I would also tell those people not to give up, and also to look at the European Parliament as their partner in this and for them to vote in the June elections.

AGERPRES: In Romania, the European elections are combined this year with the local elections. Do you think that there is a risk of diluting the European topics of debate as a result of this merger, or on the contrary, will this situation take the discussion about the benefits of EU membership to a more accessible level?

Roberta Metsola: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the situation is different in different countries, but also in my country it will take place at the same time as local elections. And for me, all politics has always been local. If anything, rather than looking at the European elections as only about sending Romanian members of the European Parliament to Brussels and Strasbourg, we will see candidates for the European Parliament in each and every Romanian city, town and village, walking side by side with local candidates that will present advantages of EU membership. You feel the European Union on the local level, projects that have meant that we have levelled up societies, also places where we need to do more. So a message from the local level to the European level that members of the European Parliament will take with them. So on the one hand, we will hopefully see an increase in turnout because we have seen a dip in European election turnout when compared to the local elections in Romania. On the other hand, we will also see a common message that politics can be felt on the national level, local level and a European level without difference.

AGERPRES: The two largest parties in Romania, PSD and PNL, recently announced that they will have a joint list for the European Parliament elections. How do you comment on the fact that the PNL, a member of EPP, which you are also a member, allies itself with the party from the group of the main political rival in the European Parliament?

Roberta Metsola: Who are you referring to exactly?

AGERPRES: To the PNL, the party which is in EPP.

Roberta Metsola: I mean, well, I'm the president of the European Parliament. So this is an occasion where I'm in Bucharest representing all members from all groups. What I welcome is the fact that people collaborate and that if there is a pro European project and that is that project that will be taken into the European Parliament also after the elections in June, is one that we will have no choice but to grow, because it is that majority that will need to continue to work together. It is that majority that overcame the Covid pandemic, it is that majority that overcame the difficulties that we reached for the Recovery and Resilience Facility, as you call it, the National Recovery Plan, the PNRR. It is the one that has taken us with unprecedented unity and solidarity during the Ukraine war. All of this will need to take us through to the very difficult next five years. And the more collaboration we have in the pro-European camp, the better.

AGERPRES: Do you think that this initiative can affect the credibility of the political platform of the EPP in Romania, which is discussed, including in the Congress in Bucharest?

Roberta Metsola: Well, that is not something for me to answer. We will need to see the campaign and you will need to see the result. But one thing I can say is that I have worked excellently, with all Romanian members of the European Parliament. They love their country, they fight for their country. They also pilot the most crucial pieces of legislation over the past five years, from economic affairs to artificial intelligence to industry, transport, research, regional. This is where Romania can really feel proud of its members, and it is those members that we will continue to collaborate with as we plot a path for the next five years. Without going from one party to another, I would look at the big picture.

AGERPRES: Europe is facing a special kind of extremism these days, which is trying to legitimise Russia's invasion of Ukraine. With what tools can this type of extremism be fought and who is most vulnerable to it?

Roberta Metsola: Well, those extremists are very few and far between. They are a very small number, in the European Parliament. And it is one that is, I would say, in thanks to the fact that our citizens across all European Union, not only in Romania, all of the member states told us to open our homes and our hearts to Ukrainians from the very beginning of the illegal Russian invasion. That enthusiasm has not waned. And that is what has kept us in being as clear as possible that we need to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes. It is the same message that we are repeating in every city, and we will counter whether it is disinformation, lack of knowledge, whether it is intolerance, whether it is extremism, whether it is xenophobia. We can talk about all types of, I would call them projects that seek to destroy rather than to build or run on ideals of fear rather than on hope. I stand for the opposite of that, and I am confident that the next Parliament will do so too.

AGERPRES: So you are not worried about the fatigue, about the Ukraine war?

Roberta Metsola: I worry about us no longer being able to explain our decisions. Why did we vote for an extra 50 billion for Ukraine? Because Ukraine needs to win the war. Why did we take the decision to open accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova? Because these countries want to join. And when we join, Europe is more than just an economic block. It is also a block of security. It is a block of peace. It's a block of freedom. As we celebrate, 20 years of my country, together with another nine the big enlargement in 2004, that is what we look at. The transformative effects that EU accession has meant for countries. So we look at these countries, one of which is fighting an unfair, illegitimate, unjustified war. And we explain the decisions why. If Putin did not stop in 2008, he did not stop in 2014. He doesn't show that he is stopping now. Turning our backs away will only make it worse.AGERPRES(RO - author: Florin Stefan, editor: Gabriela Ionescu; EN - editors: Adina Panaitescu, Maria Voican)