Dacian Cioloș: Environment, digitalization, investments in health and education must be the engine of economic reconstruction

Respecting the environment, digitalization, investments in strategic sectors such as health or education must be the engine of the reconstruction and economic transformation that we need, said Dacian Cioloș, the president of the Renew Europe group in the European Parliament, in the opening session of EUROSFAT 2020, the largest European business forum in Romania.

He said referring to the “Next Generation EU”, the EUR 750 billion economic plan created for the recovery of EU states in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, that it is part of a broader economic recovery plan that the political group, Renew Europe, asked for it in April.

“Since then, I have said very clearly in the plenary of the European Parliament that to respond courageously and correctly to the emerging economic crisis, it is not only necessary to recover the economy. There is a need for a profound transformation of the way we relate to resources, but also technology. We need to build the relaunch on a new foundation. Respecting the environment, digitalization, investments in strategic sectors such as health or education must be the engine of the reconstruction and economic transformation we need “, added Dacian Cioloș during the event organized by the European Expertise Center EUROPULS.

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Dacian Cioloș: We have a historic opportunity to transform our country

The Renew Europe official stated that the recovery plan proposed by the Commission, composed of the multi-annual budget and the Next Generation EU instrument, is a historic one and can transform Europe and Romania for the benefit of future generations.

“But to ensure that the economic recovery is oriented towards the future of the next generation, beyond the red lines at the European level, we need action at the national level. Under the Next Generation EU instrument, Romania will be able to benefit from EUR 30 billion, and if we add to this amount the almost EUR 50 billion from the budget for the next 7 years, it is absolutely clear that we have a historic opportunity to transform our country. But for this, we need to do our homework very well. States Member have time until 30 April 2021 to develop a national recovery and resilience plan. We need a well thought out plan, with a vision “, said the president of the Renew Europe.

Dacian Cioloș considers that beyond the priorities related to the environment and digital, Romania must invest in young people.

“They are the ones who need to be fully prepared for tomorrow’s European economy – green, circular, digitized. We must transform Romania into a great school for acquiring skills for the future. This is as important as in Romania the needs of young people have long been ignored or misunderstood. The figures tell us about early school leaving (16.4% in 2018), functional illiteracy (44% in 2018), youth unemployment rate (16.8% in 2019), or the number of young people living in poverty ( 26% in 2018) or social exclusion ”, explained Dacian Cioloș.

Dragoș Pîslaru: Any national plan should be developed together with young people

On the other hand, Dragos Pîslaru, USR PLUS MEP, stated that he proposed to the European Parliament that the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism also contains a pillar dedicated to young people.

“Young people must be at the center through integrated measures that propose solutions for all the phases they go through, from child to adult! For example, measures related to the modernization of the education system and the development of skills, including digital and entrepreneurial, from an earlier age than before. We need to connect education to the labor market and provide support for vocational and vocational training and retraining. For these reasons, I do not see a national recovery and resilience plan without measures to take into account the needs of children, young people, and adults who have just entered the labor market. For this reason, our proposal at the European level is that any national plan is drawn up in consultation with civil society, in particular youth organizations. That’s what I did at the European level. We have had consultations in 14 European countries. Youth associations participated in all of them, we all received the same message: we want to be part of the solution! ”, explained Dragoș Pîslaru.

Debates in EUROSFAT 2020 are on the main themes of the EU Recovery Plan: sustainable development, digitalization and the European Green Pact.

The full agenda of the event organized by the EUROPULS Center of European Expertise is available on the EUROSFAT 2020 website.

The event takes place online, between October 12-16 and can be watched on the EUROPULS Facebook page and the EUROSFAT website.

Every year, the conference is organized under the patronage of the European Parliament, the European Commission, and the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union and in partnership with various international institutions, private companies, and representatives of Romanian and European civil society.

The event is organized by the EUROPULS Center of European Expertise.