Speech by EU Commissioner Rehn - Romania's work programme up to accession

Summary: Speech by EU Commissioner Rehn - Romania's work programme up to accession (22 November 2005: Brussels)

Speech by Mr Olli Rehn, Member of the European Commission, responsible for Enlargement, EU-Romania Joint Parliamentary Committee, Brussels

Romania's work programme up to accession in the light of the Monitoring Report

Chairmen, Honourable Members, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure for me to address the EU-Romania Joint Parliamentary Committee which is celebrating its nineteenth meeting today. This meeting takes place at a decisive moment as Romania is on the eve of achieving its full return to the European family.

Indeed, Romania already has one foot over the threshold of the European house since the signature of the Accession Treaty last April and since its observers started their work here late September. Their presence in the European Parliament will undoubtedly contribute to familiarise the people of Member States with Romania, to inform Romanian citizens on EU issues and to influence positively the reputation and the perceptions of Romania within our Member States.

An important step on the road to accession was the publication last month of the Commission's Comprehensive Monitoring Reports on Bulgaria and Romania's progress towards accession. The overall aim of the exercise was to present to Romania, to the Member States and the public a detailed and accurate state of play of Romania's preparations.

It is fair to say that - 13 months before the envisaged date of accession - Romania has made impressive progress, in particular in the fields of justice reform, competition policy and the overall level of alignment. I would therefore like to congratulate Romania on its achievements and on its impressive efforts devoted to membership. These congratulations are in particular addressed to the Romanian Parliament for its legislative work. I appreciate also the contribution of the Joint Parliamentary Committee and its members in accompanying the process.

Last but not least, I welcome the active part played by the European Parliament and in particular the report prepared by Mr Moscovici, which highlights the strong and the weak points relating to Romania's progress to date.

Honourable Members,

Let me now present the main findings of the Comprehensive Monitoring Report in more detail.

The Report concludes that Romania continues to meet the political requirements for membership. It shows that Romania has taken decisive steps to further reform the justice system towards more independence and to improve the situation on media freedom, property restitution, minorities and child protection.

However, a number of shortcomings still exist: significant efforts are needed to pursue the reform of public administration, effectively implement the reform of the justice system and ensure effective enforcement of the fight against corruption, including at high level. In the area of human rights, the protection of minorities and vulnerable groups, further efforts are needed.

As regards the economic criteria, Romania continues to be a functioning market economy. Nevertheless, it needs to vigorously implement its structural reform programme. The slowdown in disinflation and the widening external imbalances call for continued attention. Further attention should also be paid to strengthening the revenue base of the government.

Romania has continued to make significant progress in terms of transposing and implementing the acquis and has reached a reasonable level of alignment.

In spite of this, the report also identifies a limited number of issues of serious concern, covering approximately 10% of the acquis areas. These are areas where, unless Romania takes immediate and decisive corrective action, it will not be ready at the envisaged date of accession. We can distinguish three categories within these sectors.

The first category covers areas where a technical solution is required, such as the adoption and enforcement of the pending legislation, e.g. as regards public procurement and intellectual property rights.

The second category relates to Romania's ability to reap fully the benefits from EU funds upon accession. This implies that Romania puts in place and secures the sound functioning of its paying agencies and Integrated Administration and Control System as regards agriculture, and considerably strengthens its financial and administrative capacity to manage EU structural funds.

Finally, the third category is linked to the functioning of the internal market and to the security of the European Union. Indeed the numerous shortcomings identified in the veterinary sector raise major concern as regards the safety of the whole food chain in the enlarged EU. Romania also has to prove its ability to contribute to the security of the EU by securing its external borders and eradicating corruption.

In other words, when identifying these issues, the Commission acts as the Guardian of the Treaties and applies the precautionary principle. We are particularly concerned as regards the very limited progress yielded by Romania's anti-corruption instruments. The number of investigations, prosecutions and convictions particularly for significant high-level corruption, including within the judiciary, remains worryingly low.

On 7 November, I sent a letter to Minister of Foreign Affairs Ungureanu, in which I asked Romania to take decisive and immediate actions to address the gaps and shortcomings that I have just mentioned.

In summary, Romania must spare no effort to focus on the implementation of its accession commitments. This is a difficult challenge to fulfil in the next months leading to accession, but Romania is still on track for an accession, as foreseen, in 2007.

The report does not take a view on the possible use of safeguard clauses. It is premature, today, to say whether the Commission should recommend triggering the safeguard clauses: there is still scope for major improvement in the coming months. It is not the time now to speculate on the Commission's recommendation, but for Romania to concentrate its efforts on the goal of accession by 1 January 2007. The race is not yet over; it is now up to Romania to show that it is able to cross the finishing line and act as a reliable partner.

Honourable members of the Parliaments,

Let me conclude by saying that we have good reasons to believe that we can complete this 5th enlargement round successfully on time. However, the Commission will continue its intensive monitoring of Romania's preparation and, if needed, we won't hesitate to recommend, in spring 2006, to postpone accession by one year. We will also continue to provide targeted assistance to help Romania in its accession efforts. Our financial contribution to that end is substantial: the EU budget in 2006 for Romania is around EUR 1023 million.

Before closing our meeting, let me stress again the important role that the JPC plays in the accession process by promoting political dialogue between the EP and members of the Romanian Parliament. The completion of the enlargement process will open the door for Romania and further extend our shared values on the European continent. After all, it is the EU citizens, who need to support and accept our decisions.

Ref: SP05-308EN
EU source: European Commission
UN forum:
Date: 22/11/2005

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