BUCHAREST, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Romania's stance on the future of the European Union (EU) in a Brexit context is to support the strengthening of the European project in its current form, not a multi-speed Europe, Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu said on Tuesday.
Speaking in an interview with public broadcaster Radio Romania Actualitati, Grindeanu was referring to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker's White Paper on the future of Europe unveiled last week.
"This is the position I see is shared by the president (Klaus Iohannis), this is what we as a government and parliament support," he said, adding that a discussion on the subject would begin at the end of this month in Rome.
Earlier in the day, the Romanian president stated that a two-speed Europe was not good, saying that the White Paper presented by Juncker "represents the beginning of debates, not the end."
Iohannis argued that the goal should be building a "solid, strong and united" EU.
The president also expressed his stance last Wednesday during his meeting in Bucharest with Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, whose country currently holds the six-month rotating presidency of the Council of the EU.
Iohannis told the visiting prime minister that a multi-speed EU would lead to the collapse of the European project.
Last Wednesday, Juncker outlined five scenarios regarding the future of the EU post-Brexit in his White Paper, one of which envisages a two-gear Europe allowing individual member states to cooperate in specific policy areas depending on the level of progress. The document has already sparked heated reactions among EU member states.
