Romania concludes EU accession talks

Calling it a “moment of joy”, Romania’s Foreign Minister Mircea
Geoana has announced the closure of his country’s EU accession
negotiations.

“The negotiations for joining the EU are closed […] This is a
historical day for Romania,” said Foreign Minister Geoana,
announcing the conclusion of negotiations on the final two chapters
of Bucharest’s accession to the EU. The closure of the chapters on
Competition and Justice and Home Affairs is now scheduled to be
followed by an endorsement from the EU member states’
leaders at their summit on 16-17 December. Geoana said that he
expects the Accession Treaty to be signed in April or May 2005.

During the last leg of the accession negotiations, Romania made
additional commitments on issues related to asylum policy,
migration and border controls, and in Geoana’s words in the field
of competition the country agreed to “strict measures to strengthen
the competencies and independence of the competition council”.
Bucharest has also accepted close monitoring by the EU until 2007
under a special ‘safeguard clause’. Accordingly, EU entry
could be delayed by one year in the event that Bucharest
fails to deliver.

The accession negotiations are scheduled to reach a political
conclusion at the EU foreign ministers’ meeting on 14 December.

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