 EUROPEANS INTEGRATION |
Romania was formally invited to start negotiations with the European Union during the December 1999 Council Summit in Helsinki. Romania had been waiting for a signal, something to allow its citizens hope for a better future. The poor economic results of the past years have somewhat undermined the spirit of Romanians.
But finally The EU has given this country the green light they were waiting for. Only one month before that Mr. Radu Berceanu, Minister of Industry and Trade, had declared: "what is important for us is to feel that there is an open door. It might take 5 to 10 years, but it depends on Romania. In this case we will have a motivation" In February 15th, 2000 Romania officially started talks for its accession to the EU.
Romania was not the only country invited. Malta, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Latvia are candidates of the second round of conversations expecting to be members of the exclusive European club. Even though Romania was already fulfilling the political criteria established in Copenhagen, it was still far from reaching the necessary economic results required. However, the
EU could not afford to leave Romania to its own fate. It will take a mutual effort to make negotiations work.
According to Mr.
Dan Voiculescu, President of the Businessmen
Association of Romania, "the talks between the European
Union and Romania have nothing to do with Romania.
It is only the international situation that gives
us a very big opportunity and we just have to take
the chance and use it. Now we are in the process
of starting negotiations with the EU. Mrs. Albright
receivers our Minister of Foreign Affairs. President
Clinton's assistant visited Mr. Iliescu for a few
hours, not because of Romania, but because of the
political situation in the world and the conflict
of interests between Europe and the United States.
We are the result of what happened and not the reason
of what is happening", he concludes. |
It might be true, but Romania is not wasting any time. Romania has started with new vigor making the necessary changes to meet the EU criteria, although a lot remains to be done. Presently the per capita GDP in Romania is US$ 4,000. According to Mr. Petre Roman, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and ex-Prime Minister of Romania, "we should increase it to about US$ 9,000 in order to be able to integrate in the EU". Mr. Roman is very ambitious about the calendar of accession, since he is determined that Romania should be a full member of the EU in 2007. "Romania should be able to attain a sustainable growth all over this period, starting in 2000 with a modest 1-2% Next years growth should be around 6.5% per year". In order to facilitate the task of integration the EU will allot 600 million Euro to meet pre-accession criteria.
But Romania does not want to stop at EU, it wants to be admitted in all international forums. The year 2001 will witness Romania's chairmanship of the OSCE. Romania is still actively seeking its acceptance into NATO. Their role during the Kosovo crisis gained Romania support for its entry into NATO, but they have not yet been invited to join in despite of the economic losses they suffered due to their proximity with Yugoslavia. That is another priority for Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr. Roman: "To successfully pursue our role into NATO according to the MAP (Membership Action Plan) proposed by the Washington Summit in 1999". However, that is an expensive membership, and Romania is mostly concentrating on the EU, an alliance which will make it improve its economic situation while attracting foreign investment. |
