Brussels, 14/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - On 12 June, the European Commission presented to the Council draft decisions on the signing, provisional application and conclusion of the agreement on Bulgaria and Romania's participation in European Economic Area (EEA).
After joining the EU, Bulgaria and Romania were also to be contracting parties to the European Economic Area agreement. The modalities for this were negotiated by the Commission and member states with the new member states, Bulgaria and Romania, and also with the EEA EFTA states - Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. Negotiations on EEA enlargement were officially concluded on 29 March 2007.
The main agreement on the participation of Bulgaria and Romania in the EEA defines the amendments to the EEA agreement in the context of EEA enlargement. The bulk of the amendments originate from the Treaty of Accession. The arrangements for the application of Community acquis by the acceding countries upon accession to the EU, such as technical adaptations and transition periods, which have been agreed in the EU enlargement negotiations, are taken over from the Act of Accession in the EEA agreement. Aside from the technical adaptations, the EEA enlargement agreement for Bulgaria and Romania has been negotiated on the basis that any substantial modalities, notably concerning financial contributions and fish concessions, should be agreed only for the remainder of the 5-year period that was negotiated in the context of the 2004 EU/EEA enlargement, i.e. from 1 January 2007 to 30 April 2009.
On that basis, it has been agreed that the EEA EFTA states will provide €21.5 million for Bulgaria and €50.5 million for Romania through the EEA financial mechanism from 1 January 2007 to 30 April 2009, when the current financial mechanisms expire, and Norway will provide €20 million for Bulgaria and €48 million for Romania as additional bilateral financial contributions over the same period. In return, it is proposed that the Community grant Norway and Iceland a number of concessions in the field of fisheries, also limited in time until 30 April 2009. The bilateral Norwegian financial contributions to Bulgaria and Romania, respectively, as well as the EC-Norway and EC-Iceland fish agreements are separate agreements, but integral parts of the EEA enlargement package, thus consisting of the EEA enlargement agreement and four related agreements.
The Commission considers that, “as the negotiations suffered unfortunate delays (…) it is necessary for the good functioning of the EEA agreement to ensure that the EEA enlargement agreement enters into force as soon as possible, and therefore a provisional application is proposed”. Among the various declarations included in the final act of the agreement it is worth noting that all parties declare not to have any claims in the fields of agriculture and processed agricultural products. (ol)