Romania has failed to secure the appointment of its candidates over other more influential and active states in European lobbying within the European External Action Service (EEAS), due to a mix of structural and political factors, deputy Cosmin Corendea, the Vice Chairperson of the Committee on Foreign Policy of the Chamber of Deputies, stated on Thursday.

'In the recent wave of 43 appointments in the European External Action Service, Romania did not secure any position and the reasons come from a combination of factors, from a mix of structural and political factors. Yes, there is an old institutional imbalance. Ever since the establishment of this service, the important offices have largely been appointed to diplomats from major Western European states. Romania, other Eastern countries have remained marginalized. This time, Romania finds itself without any representative, alongside Luxembourg, Malta and Hungary, which means that some geographic balance has been achieved in terms of Eastern European presence, taking into account that the Baltic states and neighboring countries, except Hungary, do have representatives in this agency,' deputy Cosmin Corendea told AGERPRES.

According to him, a second reason lies 'in a non-transparent selection process, which Brussels has unfortunately accustomed us to and the fact that professionalism doesn't matter much, not the profile or qualifications of the Romanian candidates in this case, but rather, what matters is simply belonging to certain circles of people who already dominate the European Parliament and the European Commission through influence.'

'And, moreover, there's also the lack of openness from these closed circles within what has become a corporation called the European Union toward new member states. Unfortunately, there are two more reasons that lie solely with us, independent of Brussels. There are some countries which actively pursue positions for their citizens, engaging in constant and aggressive lobbying in Brussels, supporting their candidates through governments and MEPs. Well, in our case, the coalition's MEPs failed to influence the selection process in any way and the MAE [Foreign Affairs Ministry], true to its recent track record, has a foreign policy that amounts to zero. Romania has consistently been perceived as having a weak, incoherent strategy, with some efforts, indeed, but scattered and lacking real political weight,' Corendea added.

A final reason why our country has no representatives in the European External Action Service is, according to the deputy, 'the lack of representation, which also reflects the level of political trust granted by the European partner to a state.'

'Paradoxically, although Romania has aligned itself behind European policies in recent years and I would even say with much humility, following advices and directives from Brussels without prioritizing national interest, it still fails to secure strong promotion or a seat at the table in Brussels, although the current coalition's policies suggesting we should be highly valued in Brussels. In conclusion, Romania has no representatives among the 43 appointments because it failed to push its candidates ahead of other, more influential and active states in European lobbying and the MEPs and the Foreign Affairs Ministry, through the very weak voice of Minister Toiu, did not help to geographically balance this situation,' the Vice Chairperson of the Committee on Foreign Policy conveyed.

The European External Action Service (EEAS) is the EU's diplomatic service. It aims to make EU foreign policy more coherent and effective, thus increasing Europe's global influence. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Catalina Matei; EN - writing by: Rodica State)