EU Still Unsure When Will Integrate Romania To Europe

EU Still Unsure When Will Integrate Romania To Europe
18 Mai 2006
de Maria Toader

The European Commission released Tuesday the Romania's country report sending a clear message: "you are not ready for accession, keep up the pace of reforms, and do not rock the political boat in the meantime."

This was an unexpected expression of staunch support to the government of the National Liberal Party (PNL) leader Calin Popescu Tariceanu, and a certain blow under the belt for the opposite camp, led by President Traian Basescu, formerly chairman of the Democrat Party (PD).

That may explain the calm reaction to the conclusions of the report that the liberal camp had. Tariceanu said this was "the best assessment Romania ever had," while the EU observer and PNL member Adrian Cioroianu said the message the EU Commission sent meant "to calm internal disputes we have and focus our attention at the job at hand."

Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, president of the European Commission in a quick visit Wednesday to Bucharest, was pleased with Tariceanu's calm reaction, who recognized to be real the shortcomings assessed by the report of the bureaucrats in Brussels.

This time the PD ministers were visibly irritated hearing the conclusions of European Parliament debate on the report; both Anca Boagiu, minister for European Integration, and Vasile Blaga, minister of internal affairs, attempted to persuade the media, while maybe attempting to persuade themselves, that the report was a positive one.

EU Commissioner for Enlargement, Olli Rehn, reiterated Barroso's stance regarding the need for political stability or, in short, to do away with any plans for early elections, as envisaged by Basescu.

"Political stability is of the essence. Bulgaria, for instance, lost a long period of time with forming the ruling coalition. This is why the political and parliamentary consensus must be maintained," said Rehn.

This means all Basescu's plans for early elections or at least a government reshuffle are up in the air.

"This report leaves no room for political bickering and destabilization. It asks us to grind our teeth, clutch our fists, and work closer together," said Attila Kelemen, MP with the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania, one of the two junior members in the four-party center-right ruling coalition in Romania.

The state of mind of the Bulgarians, also postponed until fall to get a final date for their EU integration, was different. They were happy to have stayed in the race, shoulder-to-shoulder with Romania, in spite of the six red-flags warning them of the progress they still have to make. Bulgaria's day was celebrated at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, with professional dancers, Bulgarian EU observers and journalists alike dancing on the parliament's hall floor.

Baroness Emma Nicholson, former rapporteur for Romania and a staunch critic of Romania's social and child-care system, turned with time into an advocate of Romania's progress in the field. She presented recent pictures of the orphanages for disabled children which contradicted the grim conclusions of a recently released report of an American NGO. At the same time, however, Baroness Nicholson's seems to have mellowed on the issue of international adoptions, which she strongly opposed, stating that now it was time for Romanian authorities to simplify procedures to make these adoptions possible. On pressures from the European Union, Romania changed its adoptions legislation making virtually impossible the international adoptions.

Translated by ANCA PADURARU