Aug 29, 2005

Romania has no alternative to joining EU 1 January 2007 - premier

Text of report in English by Romanian news agency Rompres web site

Bucharest, 29 August: The accession on 1 January 2007 is Romania's main objective and the government does not have any other alternative in case this doesn't happen, the Romanian PM Calin Popescu-Tariceanu told on Monday [29 August] the Romanian diplomats attending the annual meeting of Romania's diplomatic corps held at Howard&Johnson Hotel by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The head of government assured the 120 ambassadors, consuls and directors of cultural institutes of his personal and his team's commitment in solving the issues revealed by EU, which can lead to the activation of the safeguarding clause.

Tariceanu presented the diplomats a financial-economic analysis of the present Romania and made an appeal for the results obtained over the last months in the fields of Justice, Administration and Interior, Competition and Environment to be brought into the attention of EU decision-making factors. He also asked the ambassadors of the recently EU member states to send to Bucharest detailed information about the experience gathered before and after the accession, about the solutions they found meant to reduce the accession costs.

The prime minister asked the diplomats to do their best to promote a positive image of Romania, meant to counteract the present label of a country in great needs. He also stressed that the Romanian delegates abroad should take care of the Romanians working there and to eradicate the corruption in consulates, to better promote the Romanian businesses potential, insufficiently explored by foreign investors, and to support the Romanian agents involved in foreign trade activities.

Tariceanu also spoke about the importance for the government of joint fight against terrorism, referred to the special relation with Republic of Moldova, mentioned the foreign policy of the Black Sea internationalization, the immediate neighbourhood and regional cooperation policy, reminded Romania's active role in UN as active member of the Security Council, with the takeover by Romania of its presidency as of autumn, as well as the ministerial presidency held at the European Council and the presidency of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation.

Source: Rompres web site, Bucharest, in English 1205 gmt 29 Aug 05

BBC Monitoring