Only one day after the harsh criticism formulated by Emma Nicholson, the European Parliament's Rapporteur for Romania, who demanded that the country's EU accession negotiations should be suspended, the Bucharest administration got a breath of fresh air from the European Commission. The Commission representatives yesterday submitted to the Parliament in Strasbourg the Union's financial outlook for the 2007-2013 interval, having scheduled 15.4 billion euros in funding for Romania and Bulgaria, for the first three years after accession (2007-2009).
Romania is slated to receive two thirds of this amount, which means more than 10 billion euros. The EU budget for 2007-2013 will be debated in the weeks to come, but the Commission has only calculated the 2007-2009 aid for Romania and Bulgaria, so as to have room for manoeuvre in case the Union's budget undergoes changes. Technically, Romania and Bulgaria will only get 9 billion euros in the above-mentioned period, given the time gap between the project's approval and the actual disbursement of financial resources from the Union's budget. The rest of the money will arrive after 2009, sources from the Ministry of Integration told Ziarul Financiar. Last December's European Council in Brussels decided that Romania and Bulgaria should join the EU in January 2007. The Commission's proposal will be discussed with Romania and Bulgaria and then will have to be endorsed by the EU heads of states and governments.
"This is a generous and, also, realistic offer. Should it be adopted, it would help Bulgaria and Romania to fully benefit from EU accession and play an active role as full-fledged and respected Union members," Enlargement Commissioner Gunther Verheugen said after the EU's financial outlook was presented. The Romanian Foreign Affairs minister Mircea Geoana was very optimistic yesterday. "Our expectations have been fulfilled. This is one of the most generous packages ever received by Romania. This clearly puts to rest the speculations regarding the negative impact that the critical stances taken by certain Euro MPs might have upon negotiations," Geoana said, alluding to Emma Nicholson and Euro MP Arie Ooslander, who had asked that EU accession negotiations with Romania should be suspended.
After accession, Romania, as an EU member state, will have to contribute 1.24% of its average Gross National Product to the European Union Budget.
The European Commission wants bigger contributions from the member states to the EU Budget, but the net contributors (Germany, Great Britain, France and Holland) want this contribution to drop to 1% of GNP.
According to the European Commission's budget draft for 2007-2013, the EU spending after enlargement will go up to 150.2 billion euros in 2013. Last year, the EU budget was worth about 99 billion euros, half of which aimed at supporting the community agriculture.
The post-accession funds to be granted to Romania and Bulgaria will replace the current pre-accession programmes (Phare, ISPA and SAPARD) and will mainly be allocated to agriculture, rural development and regional policies.
iulian.anghel@zf.ro ; razvan.voican@zf.ro
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