Summary: April 12, 2005: Speech by Mr. Olli Rehn, Member of the European Commission, responsible for Enlargement, on "Commission calls on the European Parliament to give its assent to Bulgaria's and Romania's accession to the EU", at the European Parliament Plenary Session (Strasbourg)
Chairman,
Honorable members,
It is a great pleasure to meet with you again after our last meeting in December. Since then, on 22 February, the Commission has adopted a favourable opinion on the accession of two new Member States, Bulgaria and Romania, which will be represented in this Assembly in less than two years' time, if they complete their homework successfully.
As I have done already in the Foreign Affairs Committee on 29 March, I wish to stress that President Barroso and I have repeatedly underlined that the conclusion of the negotiations and the signature of the Accession Treaty do imply that agreement has been reached on the terms and conditions of Bulgaria's and Romania's accession - it does not mean that preparation for membership is completed.
In the remaining 21 months, Bulgaria and Romania must deliver on key reforms and fully meet the commitments made in the negotiations. The clock is ticking. Every day, every week, every month counts.
Both countries are the subject of very close monitoring by the Commission, Member States and the Parliament. They will remain so until the night of accession.
I want to reassure you that if the Commission judges, on the basis of its monitoring, that either Bulgaria or Romania are manifestly unprepared for membership, I will not hesitate to recommend the use of the remedial tools, including the clause allowing us to postpone accession by one year until 2008. I am convinced that the Honourable Members of the Parliament will agree to this approach. I therefore look forward to a regular dialogue with you on the implementation of Bulgaria's and Romania's
commitments. As confirmed by President Barroso to President Borrell in a letter last week, we will seriously consider your views before issuing any recommendation in this regard, in particular after the release in November of our Comprehensive Monitoring Report on Romania's and Bulgaria's progress towards accession.
I visited Sofia in mid-March and Bucharest at the beginning of March. Let me give you a brief outline of the Commission's current assessment of the progress made by the two countries.
On Bulgaria: The report of Mr. Van Orden welcomes the conclusion of the accession negotiations with Bulgaria and supports the Council's conclusions and Commission's reports. The country has made steady progress in the past years.
Nonetheless, there is need to keep momentum in the preparation for accession. We are keeping a close watch on this through intensified monitoring. In this respect, Bulgaria needs to make solid efforts to reform the judiciary, fight against corruption and organised crime. Reform of the judiciary, in particular of the pre-trial phase, is the overarching priority until accession.
Let me now turn to Romania: In its Opinion, the Commission called on Romania to pursue with determination the reforms that still need to be made. This covers in particular the effective implementation of the reforms of the public administration and the judiciary, the fight against corruption and the fulfilment of the commitments taken in the field of competition and environment. In his report, Mr. Moscovici adds to these priorities organised crime and control of external borders; and I fully
share his views.
Romania has started to seriously tackle the accession requirements, in particular in the field of justice reform and the fight against corruption. I am pleased to be able to say today that all key strategic documents in this field required by the outcome of the negotiations, have recently been transmitted by the Romanian Government, on time. This concerns the fight against corruption, reform of the justice system and border security. These documents are now being assessed by the
Commission.
In another key area, competition - that we will be also watching closely - Romania has inter alia fulfilled its obligation of submitting its national plan for steel restructuring, on time.
Progress is also being made in the areas of police co-operation, where new laws on the Gendarmerie and the National Police have been adopted. In border management, Romania is engaged in discussions to determine the shape of its future funding commitments.
This political determination now has to be further translated into concrete actions. Based on my frequent meetings with the Romanians in Bucharest and in Brussels, it is my strong belief that the new Government has understood the scope and the importance of the monitoring exercise and the urgency to deliver concrete results in the first semester of 2005.
In my view we have reason to be cautiously optimistic as regards Romania's preparation for accession. We must have a fair game. While the jury is still out, it is now time to give Romania the benefit of the doubt.
Before concluding, let me briefly touch upon the financial implications of the accession of Bulgaria and Romania. Commissioner Grybauskaite has worked closely with rapporteurs Böge and Dührkop Dührkop on this issue. The Commission position on the matter is as follows.
The amounts agreed in the accession negotiations with Bulgaria and Romania for the period 2007-2009 are included in the Accession Treaty and it is now up to the European Parliament to decide on whether to give its assent to the Accession Treaty.
The 2007-13 financial perspective is to be broken by broad categories of expenditure for the EU-27, not on distinctions of allocations between groups of Member States, some of which can only be very indicative anyway.
The Commission believes that distinguishing indicative amounts by groups of Member States is contrary to the spirit and the letter of the interinstitutional agreement (and to the relevant provisions in the future Constitution).
The loyal cooperation between the institutions requires that all institutions work towards creating the conditions for a new Inter-institutional Agreement acceptable by all parties.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Tomorrow is a key date for the enlargement process as the European Parliament will vote on its assent to the accession of both countries scheduled for January 2007.
I would like to express my appreciation for the support the European Parliament has given over the years to the enlargement process. I am grateful for the cooperation since I am in office and very much welcome the overall support of the European Parliament to the signature of the Accession Treaty with Bulgaria and Romania on 25 April. I do think that we have good reasons to believe that this is the right way to proceed. On the basis of the recent developments in Bulgaria and Romania and with
our joint efforts to help both countries in their preparation for accession, I am confident that the completion of this 5th enlargement round will be successful.
Chairman, to conclude, the efforts of the two countries to intensify the necessary preparations will continue to be supported by the European Commission, as well as by our financial assistance programmes. The timely signature of the Accession Treaty is important with a view to keeping up the momentum and ensuring a successful preparation for accession. I count on your support this respect.
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