European Union (Accessions) Bill

I am happy to answer the question directly and acknowledge that, in view of the burdens of our presidency obligations since my appointment back in May, I have not yet visited Romania. I did take the opportunity early in my ministerial post to meet our British ambassador and discuss with him the progress that continues to be made—I am pleased to say with the assistance of British civil servants as well as a range of other bodies—in Romania. Not least because it is standard procedure when meeting British ambassadors to request a visit to the said country, I gave an undertaking to the British ambassador in Bucharest that I hoped to be able to visit Romania fairly shortly after the end of the British presidency. One can readily imagine, in view of the number of countries within the EU at the moment—and on account of future financing, which I have no intention of discussing this afternoon—that pressures on ministerial time are considerable and that a range of visits already lie ahead for me in the remaining weeks of the British presidency.