Reactions to the EU Country Report

It was a prudent reaction from Guenther Verheugen, European Commissioner for the Enlargement, to state that "it was possible" for Romania to end negotiations by year-end, said Jonathan Scheele, head of the EU Delegation to Bucharest.

"One has to be prudent when one makes predictions, as nothing may be declared to be forever closed until it was so," said Scheele yesterday.

He said that closing the accession negotiations is not a decision made by the European Commission but by EU member states.
Scheele also said that Romania must solve the issues still waiting solution, and pointed out that compared to last year new, "unacceptable issues arose" like those related to the freedom of the press and physical aggression against journalists.

International media also commented yesterday the EU Commission Report.
The French daily "Le Figaro" writes that "Romania is off the hook. It will join EU in January 2007, as it hoped for, and got the status of a working market economy recognized, which was refused to it last year."
The British "The Telegraph" has a very critical tone, saying that "A set date for accession was confirmed to Romania and Bulgaria, in spite of endemic corruption and infringement of human rights there. Romania was criticized more than Bulgaria, and described as an extremely poor country that could test hard the finance and the job market of the EU."

President Ion Iliescu took part in the yesterday’s Government Session, when the conclusions of the EU Commission Report were debated. It was decided that in its next meeting the following Thursday, the Executive will decide on a plan of priorities to be addressed in the near future and in the following two years with a view to EU integration.
The plan will be designed on the basis of the proposals in the Country Report.

Iliescu said that the plan should be followed by the Executive to take office following the fall elections. "This is a very important time politically, as important as the accession to NATO, but with far greater implications. This year may be regarded as being equally important to the one of the Romanian Revolution," said Iliescu.