Romania: Optimism and caution

Brussels delivers a warning to Romania: shape up or wait another year, writes Razvan Amariei in Transitions Online.

The country report on Romania issued by the European Commission on 25 October proved to be better than the one released in 2004 but worse than many people had expected. 

Despite all local efforts, it is still possible that Romania’s accession will be postponed by one year. That’s because officials of the Commission (EC) are still profoundly dissatisfied with the center-right government’s corruption and border-control strategies. 

Nine down, two to go

The accession treaty signed this spring lays out 11 conditions in the areas of competition policy and justice and home affairs that Bucharest needs to meet before entering the EU. Failure to do so would trigger a safeguard clause allowing the EU to postpone the accession date by a year to 1 January 2008.

The EU member states could decide an unanimous vote to postpone the date of accession for either Romania or Bulgaria by one year if “there is a serious risk of either of those States being manifestly unprepared to meet the requirements of membership.” Another clause enables the member states to decide by a qualified majority to delay Romania’s accession by a year if « serious shortcomings » have been observed in the fulfillment of its obligations in the areas of competition policy, border control, judicial and police reform, measures against corruption and crime in general, state social benefits, and restructuring of the country’s steel industry.

Nine of the conditions have been completely or almost completely met, but the leftovers are also the most difficult ones to comply with. EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn told a Romanian TV station, “We want to see significant efforts in combating corruption, especially corruption at high levels. We are expecting the Romanian judiciary system to take this problem very seriously.”

Romanian Justice Minister Monica Macovei agreed with Rehn’s assessment: “This negative score in the anti-corruption area is totally justified and it is the prosecutors who should eliminate this burden for the country. For three years, during the previous Social Democrat government, no high officials accused of corruption were sent to trial.”

And Interior Minister Vasile Blaga agreed that the EC’s concerns on border security were justified, though he also said that the government’s strategy to tackle the issue was on schedule. 

Rehn said the EC would take a final decision on Romania’s accession date in April or May 2006, after the release of new reports on Romania and its neighbor Bulgaria, which is in a similar position.

To read the article in full, visit the Transitions Online website.