Social Democrat MEP Victor Negrescu, Vice-Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Culture and Education, has concluded another parliamentary session with many active results at the European level and positive expectations for the coming period. The results of his work are summarized through the following objectives: securing additional and more accessible European funds to counter the effects of the war in Ukraine and rising energy prices, constant actions towards Romania’s accession to the Schengen area, the fight for European social rights and respect for citizens, the promotion of a European Union for all, and the protection of Romanian interests and national values.

“For each of these objectives, I have managed to achieve concrete results with your support and that of my colleagues in PES activists Romania, the Social Democratic Party and the Party of European Socialists (PES)”, said Victor Negrescu.

An important component of his work has been related to the budgetary area:

• he succeeded to amend the European regulation allowing the revision of national recovery and resilience plans in the European Parliament;
• he secured additional funding in the European budget, in particular to reduce the impact of the alarming rise in energy prices, to fight inflation and to support SMEs and vulnerable groups;
• he secured, through a series of parliamentary actions, the phasing out of unfinished European projects;
• he promoted the inclusion of new integrated territorial investment areas, such as those dedicated to the Apuseni Mountains or the northern part of Moldova.

 

Constant efforts to promote Romania’s accession to the Schengen area: 

• he was the promoter of the European Parliament resolution for accession to the Schengen area, which had been supported by the S&D Group and adopted last year by the European legislature after the success of the #RomaniaCereSchengen petition;
• he conducted the national campaign #RomâniiMerităÎnSchengen, through which he sent tens of thousands of messages from Romanians to the European institutions and held discussions with many European leaders;
• he contributed to changing the votes of Sweden and the Netherlands on Romania’s accession to the Schengen area;
• he organised a protest with dozens of PES activists in front of the Council of the EU to demand respect for Romania’s rights;
• he succeeded to amend the European Parliament’s latest resolution to stress that the Council’s decision in December to reject Romania’s accession, without any legal justification being given regarding the accession criteria, represents discrimination against Romanians and a violation of their fundamental rights;
• he initiated a report by the Committee on Constitutional Affairs (AFCO) on the implementation of special legislative procedures, referring also to the legal justification of the EU Council votes.
• he discussed, prior to the taking over of the Presidency of the EU Council, with political leaders in Spain and contributed to make Romania’s accession to the Schengen area a priority of their mandate, also participating in high-level discussions with officials who could further help Romania.

Various sectorial actions in the social, digital, educational and cultural areas:

 

• he gained the support of dozens of MEPs for cases related to children whose parents work abroad, young people with disabilities or children with cancer;
• together with his colleagues, he organised the Romanian Digital Sector Day at the European Parliament;
• starting this year, thanks to the pilot project he initiated, 123 schools in the EU, and 6000 children have access to modern working tools, digital systems and better connectivity.