PRESS STATEMENT   



 

PRESS STATEMENT OF THE PRIME MINISTER, MR. ADRIAN NĂSTASE - Victoria Palace, 31 May 2001, 3 p.m.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Allow me to make several remarks on a topic debated quite a lot in the last few hours, starting from yesterday, when the Financial Times and the news flows carried comments on the draft report drawn up by Emma Nicholson for the European Parliament?s Committee on Foreign Affairs. I think that, besides the remarks I made yesterday, it is important for me to add a few things.

In relation with the substantive aspects, the Government has worked these days on Mrs. Nicholson?s draft report and has prepared specific observations on each of its elements, observations which will correct the aspects presented in the draft report. Second, tomorrow I will send two letters, to Mr. Verheugen and to Mrs. Nicholson, trying to correct some of the information this text is currently circulating. I would like to inform you that this morning I talked on the phone to Mr. Verheugen, the European Commissioner for enlargement. I informed him of my particular concern towards the content of the draft report drawn up by Mrs. Nicholson and published in the London press by a strange coincidence. I told him that from our point of view the report contained many errors, many misinterpretations and that, on its general level, was unfair to the Government?s efforts and the impression we were given on the occasion of several meetings with Mrs. Nicholson.

I told Mr. Verheugen that the members of the Cabinet had carefully examined the report and made various remarks on that text - the necessary clarifications that are presented in a comparative table showing the exaggerations and the misinterpretations in that document.

Mr. Verheugen, who accepted that our discussion would be made public, said that the text was a draft report by a parliamentarian of the Committee for Foreign Affairs. Of course, depending on all the information at their disposal, the parliamentarians will decide on this draft report, within the framework of the Committee for Foreign Affairs, and it will then be submitted to the European Parliament. Mr. Verheugen also added, for those who are not aware of this fact, that accession negotiations represent an exclusive prerogative of the European Commission and that at the level of the Parliament there is no question of suspending these negotiations which - I repeat - are the prerogative of the European Union?s executive, that is the European Commission.

As Mr. Verheugen stated in Bucharest as well, the European Commission considers that Romania has progressed in its drive to accession and that the action of the Government from Bucharest is set on the right track.

In connection with the issue of institutionalized children, Mr. Verheugen told me that the European Commission?s Mission in Bucharest had reported to him on the meeting at Snagov and on the favourable comments made by all the foreign participants - the World Bank, UNICEF, the delegation of the European Commission.

I would also like to inform you that, starting from yesterday, following a discussion we had here at the Government headquarters, Mr. Giovanni Ravasio, former director general of the European Commission?s Directorate for Economics and Finance, accepted the position of personal adviser of the Prime Minister. I believe this is a special gain, a very positive fact since we will thus be able to examine - with the most authorized person or, to put it better, the person with the greatest amount of experience related to the European Commission - the problems pertaining to macroeconomic aspects and, in general, the themes that can further make the object of our discussions with the European Union, with the financial structures in Washington, but particularly the elements pertaining to Romania?s economic evolution that require permanent adjustments, corrections and especially improvement.

In connection with the stage of the negotiations, on 31st of December 2000 negotiations were in progress for nine chapters and provisionally closed for six chapters. Over January-May 2001, another 11 documents concerning the new chapters were drawn up and conveyed. By 31 December 2001, we will be able to open negotiations on a total of 24 chapters, recouping the gap versus the other applicant countries.

In conclusion, the Government is conducting very ambitious actions with a view to European integration. The setting up of a distinct ministry for European integration and the fact that each ministry has a state secretary for integration have created a very useful and efficient framework for the negotiations and application of the agreements we have reached with the EU. Thank you!

 

Cabinet of The Prime Minister - DAIS
May 31, 2001