Brussels, 04/04/2006 (Agence Europe) - Speaking in Strasbourg on Monday evening before the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs, Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn refused to speculate on the conclusions and recommendations to be made by the European Commission on 16 May in its final monitoring reports on Romania and Bulgaria's state of preparedness for accession. He did, however, send a mixed message to both countries, asserting that the date of 1 January 2007 for membership is “doable” but only if the key problems - corruption and reform of the judiciary - are dealt with more seriously. Bucharest and Sofia need to present “tangible results”, mainly to combat high level corruption, he stressed. The information the Commission needs to finalise its reports will not be available until early May, Mr Rehn explained, saying: “Therefore, I can of course not prejudge their final findings”. On the basis of information already available to the Commission, however, one can say that both countries are “on their way” to meeting the economic criteria and, when it comes to implementing the Community body of law, the political criteria have been met for several years now, the Commissioner said. “In our reports of 16 May, we will review the countries' progress since our October 2005 Reports and we will identify any remaining shortcomings. (…) Should our analysis show that one or the other country is manifestly unprepared in a number of important areas, the Commission may, in the context of these Reports, recommend postponing the accession of either country from 2007 to 2008”, Mr Rehn recalled. Such a recommendation to postpone accession by one year will only be made in the case of “major problems”, he stressed. The Commission “would seriously consider the views of the Parliament before issuing any such recommendation”, he assured. Mr Rehn also pointed out that any less serious shortcomings (which would not justify postponement) may always be corrected by using the safeguard clauses foreseen in the Accession Treaty, it mattering little if membership takes place in 2007 or 2008. EUROPE recalls that the Accession Treaty contains three kinds of safeguard clause: a general economic safeguard clause and two specific clauses: one on the functioning of the internal market and the other on justice and home affairs. They allow both countries to be temporarily excluded from certain Community policies. Implementation of these safeguard clauses could be the subject of follow-up reports in November 2006. During the debate behind closed doors with Mr Rehn, EP Rapporteurs Geoffrey van Orden (Bulgaria) and Pierre Moscovici (Romania) warned against deferred accession, stressing the “political cost” of such a decision and the impact that it would have on continued reform throughout the region. The co-president of the Greens/EFA Group, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, urged for accession by these two countries to be put off till 2008. As Bulgaria's deficits now seem greater than Romania's, “would it not be better to strengthen the process by postponing the debate by one year?”, he asked. Speaking to the press, Hans Gert Pöttering explained that the EPP-ED Group (which is divided) will define its stance after publication of the report on 16 May. If membership conditions are not met, it will be necessary to defer enlargement till 2008, he said. Hartmut Nassauer and Markus Ferber, German members of the EPP-EP Group, felt that the Commission should not make its final recommendation until the autumn rather than in May to give a more realistic and complete picture of the situation. Martin Schulz, who heads the Socialist Group, also announced that his group would await the Commission's report. Graham Watson, ALDE Group leader, said that postponing enlargement would be tantamount to “breaking the moral contract” sealed with these two countries.
Romania has “made progress in the fight against corruption. Sound and solid structures have been set up for this purpose, and investigations into high-level corruption cases have been launched. This is immensely important (…) but the positive trend must still be confirmed and proven. High-level corruption needs to be vigorously addressed”, Mr Rehn explained. Romania now needs to establish “tangible results” of investigations with concrete outcomes, such as indictments, convictions and dissuasive sentences, he said. Reform of the legal system is on track, on condition that the pace of reform is maintained. Romania has taken measures regarding public administration reform, but reform is not yet complete, he said. Trafficking in human beings still remains a problem for Romania. However, increased cooperation with Member States has already led to some results in dismantling networks. The child protection situation has greatly improved in recent years. On the other hand, Mr Rehn pointed out, the integration of minorities (especially the Roma) must still be improved.
Bulgaria. Progress on reform of the legal system is limited, although the new penal procedural code takes effect on 29 April and amendments to the Constitution were voted last week, Mr Rehn said, deploring the number of “ambiguities” on the independence of the judiciary. As for Romania, Bulgarian authorities need to show “tangible results” on combating high-level corruption, with concrete outcomes after investigations such as indictments, convictions and dissuasive sentences. Improvements are also needed in combating organised crime. “All in all, the balance sheet of Bulgaria's judiciary reform is not yet satisfactory”, Mr Rehn concluded, saying human trafficking remains a problem although - as in Romania - networks have been dismantled recently. When it comes to the situation of minorities, especially the Roma, Bulgaria needs to speed up its efforts, Mr Rehn said.
Plenary session of the European Parliament