Romanian-Spanish Relations

On Monday, president Klaus Iohannis met with King Felipe VI of Spain in Madrid and had talks with Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy

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Ştefan Stoica, 14.07.2015, 13:26

The delicate context in Europe generated by the Greek crisis and internal anti-European unrest ranked high on the agenda of the visit of Romanias president Klaus Iohannis to Madrid. On Monday, following an official meeting with King Felipe VI and his wife Letizia, the president said that Europe cannot be split between Eurozone and non-Eurozone states and called for unity and solidarity. Iohannis expressed gratitude to the Spanish authorities for the way they handle the approximately 1 million Romanians in Spain. In turn, King Felipe said Romania deserved to join Schengen due to its consistent and relentless efforts to strengthen the EUs external borders. The president later met with Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. Talks focused on economic cooperation and the Romanian community in Spain. President Klaus Iohannis recalled that Spanish investment exceeded 1.3 billion euros in 2014 and called for a larger involvement of Spanish investors in Romania. Klaus Iohannis:

“Its worth mentioning that over the last 10 years, of which 6 have been affected by the effects of the crisis, two-way trade has doubled. But theres room for more. During our talks I have highlighted the fact that we want a broader, more diversified presence of Spanish investors in Romania, particularly in the long-term. We urge Spanish companies to make foreign direct investment in such fields as energy, industry or agriculture.

In turn, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy praised the Romanian community for integrating well in Spain and for contributing to Spains economic growth:

“Its a well-known fact that the community of Romanians in Spain totals 1 million people. But what I would like to underline is something that brings me a great deal of satisfaction as a Spanish and European citizen, namely the complete integration of this community in Spain, a community that contributes to the development of both Spain and Romania and to the progress of our societies.

Additionally, president Klaus Iohannis met with representatives of the Romanian community, a net contributor to his success in Novembers presidential race last year. The president told Romanians that the presidency has already started working on a coherent vision on the Romanian Diaspora. The president wants Bucharest to have a closer relationship with Romanians abroad and to offer consular services that are more effective and reflect reality, which is exactly what Romanian associations in Spain want.