On the eve of Romania’s upcoming six-month presidency of the EU Council on January 1, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker questioned the ability of the country’s authorities to lead the European Union.

“I believe that the Romanian government has not yet fully realized what it means to lead the EU,” Juncker said in an interview with the German newspaper Die Welt, published on Saturday, December 29.

Recognizing that Romania is ” technically well prepared “for the presidency of the European Union, he noted that Bucharest’s” prudent actions ” require the ability to hear others and a firm willingness to subordinate its interests to the interests of others. “And here I have some doubts,” the head of the European Commission added.

Since July 2018, the EU Council was headed by Austria, replacing Bulgaria in rotation. Finland will chair in the second half of 2019, followed by Croatia and Germany (in 2020).

In the summer of 2016, the UK refused to chair the Council in connection with the planned withdrawal of the country from the European Union, after which the order was revised. All countries actually take up the post of President of the EU Council six months earlier than the original plan.