“European Romania" Ltd.

Connecting a country of over 20 million people in the European Union is a complex process. No one can blame a particular person, a political party or even a public institution for this. Although paradoxical, the "macro procedure" of the national-European relationship is mostly a technical algorithm, requiring specific expertise in multiple sectors (legislation, social, business sector, etc.). Again, political will is important, but must be supported by a technical component.

Romania’s role in the decision process of EU legislation is still insufficient. With hundreds of thousands of actors, Romania is tilting - unpredictable and unsustainable. I associate the system with a large company, and Romania needs a strong organizational culture. Romania should clearly define its mission, vision, and strategy and they especially need to choose the people to realize all this. I will not go into details on the human resources at this moment, but focus on how to "weave" and expand Romania’s "European fibre".

Nowadays, 75% of Romanian law is initiated by European legislation. In some cases the position of Romania is well established, while in others the position of the country is at best secondary - reminiscent of an "empty chair". There is an issue of human resources allocated to develop financing possibilities to sustain this system of "fine tuning Romania to the European Union”.

It is clear that the inertia of the system does not lead to a solution to the current problems Romania has with regards to the European Union. There must be a quick intervention, an organic one, because current trends have to be corrected. The current Romanian tissue cannot produce good results in the current situation.

What skills must Romanians who want to be part of this structure have?

You cannot put the thousands of cases under discussion at EU level on the desks of just 100 diplomats from the national representation in Brussels. We need to have people in the European institutions; permanent representations (regional and local), non-governmental organizations in the industrial federations; media; and support through lobbying by consulting firms; in academia; and the private sector.

Romania is a "mine" of resources with enormous potential to form the "fibre" that is needed for adequate representation at European level. Besides the valuable youth who trained in the country, human resources should also include those who were trained at schools abroad - something far more common in the international work environment, and they may have been raised through better programs and initiatives.

If we talk about the general requirements for a job in the European capital, candidates must possess the skills of good communicators and be skilled negotiators. Firstly however, they need a steady basis of technical knowledge and an understanding of the overall system they will work in. A volunteer background or involvement in student activities is equally useful.

Someone recently suggested that it might not be bad to think about introducing a subject in the Romanian education curriculum on European culture and civilization - something very practical, not dry or full of statistics. Teaching a course on European citizenship means including subjects like ‘rights and obligations of the European citizen’, and ‘what opportunities do we have as Romanians in Europe’. And exercises in Europeanisation and internationalisation should be continued in higher education. Foreign teachers must become the norm in absolutely all universities, and masters must be held in several international languages ​​to accustom young Romanians to globalization.

Finally, if I were to refer to those who represent us on the European political stage, they are especially MEPs. They are designed to integrate Romania into the European Union, but not by a message that is often populist or anti-European. There are two systems – the Romanian one and the European Union one, ultimately, there should only be one: a European Romania. MEPs are the missionaries to educate the Romanian people to engage in the European sphere and possibly have an opinion on the technical details, which is discussed in the European forum.

Dan LUCA / Brussels