National leader of Romania's Social Democratic Party (PSD) Marcel Ciolacu, in Rome to attend the Congress of the Party of European Socialists (PES), said on Friday that the future candidate of this political family for head of the European Commission, Luxembourg's Nicolas Schmit, incumbent commissioner for labour, is a "friend of Romania.""The European Social Democratic family has gathered in Rome to unveil its joint candidate for the European Commission, Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights Nicolas Schmit. Nicolas is a friend of Romania who has supported us in removing the cap on pensions under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) and in attracting additional European funds," Ciolacu said in a social media post on FridayHe added that he discussed with PES President Stefan Lofven the Social Democratic Party's strategy for winning the election. "I was glad that we have benefitted from the consistent support of the European social-democratic family," said the PSD leader.Marcel Ciolacu says that Europe needs more social policies, humanisation, "the energy and ideas that European social-democracy supports.""When we say that no one should be left behind, we must also take action. And, I humbly say it, we have always been the ones who have done it. Whether we are talking about Pedro Sanchez in Spain, Antonio Costa in Portugal, Stefan Lofven in Sweden, Mette Frederiksen in Denmark, Olaf Scholz in Germany or the Social Democratic Party in Romania, we were the ones who increased the minimum wage, increased pensions, created jobs, supported young people and developed our countries. And another example is Nicolas Schmit, the incumbent commissioner for jobs and social rights, the man who developed the SURE programme under which we've saved millions of jobs. Under SURE, Romania has benefitted from over EUR 3 billion," Ciolacu wrote in a social media post on Saturday.Ciolacu on Friday and Saturday attended the Congress of the Party of European Socialists (PES) in Rome ahead of the June 2024 European Parliament election.