Commission confirms Jan 2007 entry date for Romania

The 
Commission

's annual progress report for the first time recognises
the country as a "functioning market economy" and states
that the "objective is to sign the Accession Treaty as
early as possible in 2005". The document fixes the date
of entry for Romania at 1 January 2007.

Over the period between 1997 and 2004, Romania has
fulfilled the political criteria, the report says, with
"considerable progress" achieved - in line with the
community acquis - in the areas of child protection,
managing the process of decentralisation, enhancing the
independence and the efficiency of the judiciary and
through improving the legislative framework regarding the
fight against corruption.

The report also identifies areas where further
sustained efforts are needed. These include the reform of
the country's public administration and judiciary systems
and the fight against corruption, which according to the
report "remains a serious and widespread problem which
affects almost all aspects of society".

Furthermore, the report notes that "cases of serious
physical attacks against journalists have increased", and
adds that Romania "remains a country of origin, transit
and destination for victims of trafficking in human
beings". 

Regarding the economic criteria, the report recognises
the advances made by Romania's economy since 2001 and
declares the country to be a "functioning market
economy". 

According to the report, the Commission's "objective
is to sign the Accession Treaty as early as possible in
2005 in order for it to enter into force on 1 January
2007."

The Commission will closely monitor Romania's
compliance with its commitments. As from November 2005,
the Commission will compile annual monitoring reports to
cover all chapters of the acquis. Furthermore, a
'safeguard clause' already agreed with Bulgaria will be
extended to Romania as well. Such clauses covering the
areas of the economy, the internal market and justice and
home affairs will be incorporated in the Accession
Treaty, the report says.

"It's a serious clause and, were Romania not able to
achieve the European standards in time, then we would not
hesitate to use this safeguard clause," incoming
Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn has said. 

Commenting on the Commission's report 
Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase

said that "Today's report acknowledges the huge progress
our country has made on its way to EU membership. This
does not mean that our work is done. In fact, it means
that much hard work is just beginning. The report details
many areas where we must make more progress - on
corruption, on press freedom, on modernizing our
infrastructure. We recognize the need to do more on all
these fronts. It is a challenge for our whole country. It
is a challenge we will meet, just as we have met the
challenges so far along this road." 

France

on 6 October reiterated its support for Romania's (and
Bulgaria's) EU bid. Paris "hopes that the treaty of
Bulgaria's and Romania's accession to the EU will be
signed as soon as possible in 2005", the French Foreign
Ministry said in a statement.

Romania was the first country in Central and
Eastern Europe to establish official relations with the
European Community. Diplomatic relations were established
in 1990 and the Europe Agreement entered into force in
1995. Bucharest submitted its application for EU membership
on 22 June 1995. On 6 October 2004, with two and a half
negotiating chapters away from concluding its accession
negotiations, Romania received a fixed accession date from
the EU, notwithstanding the fact that the country has still
to improve its record an performance in several
fields.

EU official documents

• Commission/DG
  Enlargement:Regular report for Romania (7 October
  2004)
• [FR]
• [DE]

Press articles

• BBC News:EU cool towards Balkan
  newcomers
• BNN:France reiterates support for
  Bulgaria's, Romania's bid to join EU in
  2007