The European Parliament today decides whether Romania will reorient negotiations to political issues, to be joined by economic and legislation issues and - something that is just as important, whether Bulgaria will be separated from its team mate, Romania, so that it could join in time. The European Parliament (EP) today in Strasbourg is discussing the reports on Romania and Bulgaria. They will be presented by the European Parliament's rapporteurs for each of those countries - Baroness Emma Nicholson (Romania) and Geoffrey van Orden (Bulgaria). Both of them are Liberal Democrat Party (UK) members and therefore members of the same parliamentary group inside the EP, third largest after the popular (rightist) and the socialist (leftist) groups.
Both formulas to be presented were unanimously endorsed by the members of EP's Foreign Affairs Committee.
The debate of the two reports will provide a more concrete outline of the chances both countries stand to complete accession negotiations and become EU members on the deadline proposed along with the European leaders, January 1, 2007. The point is that whilst Bulgaria has been on track and has assimilated most of the integration requirements, Romania is lagging behind. Romania seems to have been moving backwards lately. The Romanian Government played down all those slippages, as well as the danger of Romania not completing the talks, but especially the gap between Romania and Bulgaria, which the authorities in Bucharest hardly acknowledge at all.
The report is divided into chapters. The first such chapter deals with the political situation. Albeit political decisions are not expressed in overtones, they do provide a way to gauge how each of the applicants is regarded. Brussels commends Bulgaria for "having been able to complete 26 of the 31 chapters," and the next sentence requests completion of talks with this country early this year. The principle argued is that the EU member status has to be acquired on (each applicant's) "own merits", suggesting that Bulgaria must not be tied to Romania.
adelina.radulescu@zf.ro
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