Romanian ambassador visits campus

On the 4th of February, Dr. Ion Jinga, the Ambassador of Romania to the UK, visited Warwick University.

Organised by the Politics and Romanian Speaking Societies, together with the Warwick International Office and the Department of Politics and International Studies, the event comprised a question and answer session with Romanian students, followed by a talk on European Integration, with a particular emphasis on the experience of one of its newest member states.

During the question and answer session, Dr. Jinga met Romanian students from Warwick and Coventry Universities.

A central theme of the meeting was the issue of labour market restrictions, given that Romania and Bulgaria are the only member states whose citizens still require a work permit to undertake paid work in the UK.

Dr. Jinga stressed that the lifting of restrictions is a permanent priority on the Romanian Government’s agenda in bilateral talks with the British authorities.

The rationale behind the restrictions included the unexpected rise in the number of workers from other Central and Eastern European countries that came to the UK following their accession to the European Union, the effect of the media’s coverage of the Romanian immigration issue, as well as the rise in unemployment following the economic crisis.

The restrictions were prolonged also due to the electoral context and are likely to be removed at the end of 2011, when the approval of the European Commission will be required if the work prohibition is to remain in place.

Dr. Jinga then went on to present the case of Romania’s integration in the EU, which he argued represented a “re-integration in a community of culture, tradition and spirituality in which it used to be before it was isolated by the iron curtain of communism”

Dr. Jinga argued, commenting that in 2007, Romania and Britain became once more part of the same geo-political structure, for the second time after they had both belonged to the Roman Empire.

The Ambassador presented the strategic role that Romania plays within the EU. It currently has 33 MEPs representing it in the European Parliament and 14 votes in the Council of Brussels.

After 12 years of pre-accession preparation and five years of negotiations, Romania brought to the EU highly talented IT, medicine or engineering specialists, a market of 22 million consumers, a geo-strategical and geo-political position, an outstanding foreign policy expertise in its neighbourhood and a cultural added-value, Dr. Jinga followed.

The Ambassador admitted that Romania’s integration came with challenges as well as benefits. 70,000 EU papers, covering 50 years of EU history, had to be translated and then the regulations implemented.

Discussing the challenges that still persist, Dr. Jinga compared the EU to a Rubick’s Cube, whose 27 components resemble the 27 member states of the European Union.

Accommodating and satisfying sometimes diverging interests can indeed be a difficult task, however this is not impossible, he followed.

Romania still needs to catch up with the EU with regards to several policy issues.

The country still receives fewer payments through the common agricultural policy, it is less represented in the EU institutions and doesn’t yet have the Euro.

Dr. Jinga also stressed the fact that the relationship with the Romanian communities abroad is “an absolute priority for the Romanian Government” and that many programs are available to support Romanians abroad, especially students, whose number has reached 3,500 in the UK.

Before joining the diplomatic service, Ambassador Jinga studied Physics at the University of Bucharest, Romania and received his PhD in Law, at the Faculty of Law, “Al. I. Cuza” Academy, Bucharest.

His entire diplomatic career is dedicated to Romania’s promotion as a devoted, stable and reliable member of the European Union.

Dr. Ion Jinga was also Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium between 2003 and 2008. He became Romanian Ambassador to the UK in 2008.