Romanians Have Three Hurdles to Go Till EU Membership

Romanian authorities have three main things to worry about until the 2007 integration into the European Union: avoiding the enforcement of the safeguard clause (meaning bringing in line the EU requirements for the Justice and Competition chapters), lowering the costs of the integration and training the Romanian observers to the EU proceedings.

Ludovic Orban, the former EU negotiator says Romanians still have to work for their future membership

Signing the Accession Treaty was a big step forward for Romania, but not in the least the final one before acceding to full membership. Things can go the other way any time; this is why the authorities in Bucharest "have a pro-active approach," said Leonard Orban, former chief-negotiator with the EU.
"Romanians should not stay in a never-ending status of happiness following the signing of the Accession Treaty," added Orban.
The EU monitoring report to be made public in November will have a crucial role.
But so would the domestic coordination for rendering a cohesive message to the EU.

Herve Bolot, the French ambassador to Bucharest, said that France will continue to support Romania’s EU membership for historical reasons and also for "an interest which goes without saying." Bolot also said that EU respects the cultural diversities of its member states, hence Romanians have nothing to fear that they will loose their identity; on the contrary, the latter will become richer.