Romania representative in the European Commission, Multilingualism Commissioner Leonard Orban, participated on Thursday in a live dialogue on the Internet with HotNews.ro readers, answering their questions. The official approached issues like the situation of Romanian immigrants in Italy, the subsidies for agriculture, Justice of GMOs.

Some of the answers offered by the European official:

- "I am certain that there is no reason to believe that the measures adopted by the Italian government are targeted at Romanians or other EU citizens. I am sure that there is not any lobby campaign orchestrated against Romania. On the other hand, I believe that Romania has a serious image problem", said Orban, referring to the latest evolutions in Italy.

- "The fact that there were less demands for direct payments per hectare in 2008, compared to 2007 is, in fact, a positive aspect. Things were clarified. In 2007, adding up the demands led to a total higher than the entire agriculture surface in Romania. The payments this year may be made before the June 30 deadline".

- "Small farms play an important role. One of the EC suggestions is to allocate subsidies to farms, starting from one hectare surface and from 250 euro. Romania may benefit from these funds after 2013".

- "The European Commission does not share the point of view of those who say Romania and Bulgaria were accepted in the EU too early. The Commission believes that the accession is a success not only for the two new members, but for the entire Union".

- "I am certain that there is not any lobby conducted by the EU "main states" against Romania. On the other hand, I believe that Romania has a serious image problem".

- "None of the measures adopted by the Italian Government was yet notified to the European Union and therefore none was analyzed. After the notification and the analysis, in case some of the community regulations are considered as broken, the European Commission will not hesitate to open infringement procedures for those cases. From all preliminary evaluations, there is no argument to claim that the measures are targeting Romanians or other EU citizens".

- "We had a debate recently within the European Commission, regarding the genetically modified organisms. The EC position is clear. There is a legislation adopted on an European level, we do not wish to change it, but to apply it as fast and as efficient as possible".

- The EC position is that any state may name its language however it pleases. The Commission is aware that a member state - Romania - has a problem with the "Moldovan Language" and acts consequently. The official EC documents no longer use the 'Moldovan Language' expression".