Bagis: "Horses don't die when the dogs want to"

EU Minister and chief negotiator Egemen Bagis and his Romanian counterpart Leonard Orban signed a memorandum of cooperation in European Union matters, including expert exchange, courses and training activities in Bucharest yesterday. The agreement is "as good as a goal scored by Hagi" against those who are against Turkey's accession to the EU, Bagis said at a joint press conference, referring to the Romanian footballer who has played for a long time for Galatasaray, a Turkish football team. Responding a question on EU countries opposition to Turkey's membership, Bagis said there were politicians, not states, against Turkey's membership. "Everyone will one day understand that [Turkey's membership] is a win-win situation. There is a good saying in Romania for that. The horses do not die when the dogs want to." Bagis also said that EU reforms helped to turn both Turkey and Romania into more modern countries and that Turkish-Romanian relations, dating back to 134 years, would continue to develop. Bagis added that Romania was one of the strongest supporters of Turkey's EU membership.