Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-12-15-Speech-3-201"
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"en.20041215.7.3-201"2
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"Mr President, your report of March 2004 was a real 'wake-up call' for Romania. Being tough and very demanding, it finally helped to bring about further progress in the accession negotiations. It led, with the Commission's impetus, to a series of reforms, which were listed in Romania’s famous 'To Do List', under which the Romanian authorities put greater emphasis on improving political and economic governance.
As Mr Nicolaï said, the Union will now finalise the accession negotiations with Romania on Friday. However, I underline that concluding the negotiations does not mean the end of the work. On the contrary, the two-year period to 2007 must be used by Romania to become a full-fledged Member State: plenty of hard work, commitment and especially delivery is needed. We will carry out an enhanced monitoring of compliance with the commitments entered into and of ongoing preparations in general.
For Romania and Bulgaria, we have agreed a new safeguard clause covering the period between closure of the negotiations and actual accession. This clause provides for the postponement of accession by one year if there is clear evidence that Romania will be manifestly unprepared to meet the requirements of membership. The Member States could then activate the suspension clause by unanimity, on the basis of the Commission’s recommendation.
Let me also point out that in the chapter concerning competition and state aids, the Commission was not able to propose a provisional closure of negotiations. However, the Council, due to earlier political commitments, chose to close the negotiations by the end of 2004. Moreover, in regard to justice and home affairs, the Council asked for more reassuring enforcement mechanisms. Therefore, in close cooperation with the Netherlands presidency, the Commission worked out a proposal for a reinforced monitoring mechanism linked to safeguard clauses in these two areas: justice and home affairs, and competition and state aids.
In these areas, the suspension clause can be activated by a qualified majority of the Member States, which gives it stronger credibility than if it were only activated by unanimity.
I would like to emphasise here that I fully endorse the provisions of this clause. Should the monitoring by the Commission show that Romania is not properly prepared for membership, we should not hesitate to recommend that the Council invoke this suspension clause. To be absolutely clear: the aim of this clause is not to penalise Romania, but to protect Romania and the EU Member States from any negative effects that Romania’s possible manifest unpreparedness for membership might entail.
Before closing, let me briefly touch upon the political situation in Romania. I know that Parliament is concerned about alleged irregularities in the parliamentary and presidential elections that recently took place in Romania. I am also aware of the assessments made by several Romanian NGOs. However, I would like to recall that the OSCE election assessment team stated that overall the administration of the Romanian elections 'seemed professional and efficiently organised'. I also note that the OSCE has assessed the overall conduct of the election as satisfactory in the second round. Moreover, both presidential candidates accepted the final results of the presidential elections. I trust – and this is important for the European Union as well as for Romania – that the new president-elect and the forthcoming government in formation will be determined to continue with the reforms that are needed for Romania to accede to the European Union. That is very much in the interest of Romania and Romanians.
Let me conclude by saying that I endorse the conclusions of the report by your rapporteur, Mr Moscovici, which are, in general, in line with the 2004 Regular Report. The Commission will continue to keep Parliament informed of Romania’s progress towards accession."@en1
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