Prime Minister of Romania took part in the high level Summit of the South East European Cooperation Process

May 4th, 2006

“ This is due to the efforts which Romania has been making for more than two years. This is the second important step which we have succeeded in achieving, and to which the Romanian diplomacy, the Presidency and the Government have contributed to an important extent. It is in our interest to support the Republic of Moldova to acquire a European integration perspective. The Republic of Moldova acquires thus other status than the countries in the Eastern neighborhood of Romania ”, Prime Minister has stated.

The Head of the Executive has stated that other important step was achieved at the Summit on CEFTA enlargement and amendment, organized on April 6th in Bucharest when the Republic of Moldova was invited to join the group of the Western Balkans countries. “ Romania will do its duty as neighbor, and friend state, as a state with joint history and interests. It was our natural duty to help the Republic of Moldova to make this step which will help it to the extent it makes efforts and it will prepare to join the EU a day ”, Prime Minister Tariceanu has stated.

The official signature of the Chart of the South East European Cooperation Process will be made in the following months at Bucharest.

The Head of the Romanian Executive considers that the today's meeting has reaffirmed the necessity of strengthening the regional cooperation as an essential factor in the countries of Western Balkans' process of getting close to EU.

“ Romania considers this process as extremely important because it essentially contributes to the consolidation of the stability and cooperation in the region through sustaining regional cooperation projects to the benefit of all countries ”, Prime Minister Tariceanu has stated, showing that Romania has contributed to the consolidation of this process.

On the press conference with Prime Ministers of the Hellenic Republic, Mr. Constantinos Karamanlis and Croatia, Mr. Ivo Sanader, the Romanian Prime Minister has shown that the regional cooperation process plays an essential role for the European perspective of the area countries. The regional cooperation is necessary but not a sufficient condition for the Western Balkans states to get closer to the European Union, Prime Minister Tariceanu has stated.

The Head of the Romanian Executive has added that the states participant in SEECP have stated that there is a mutual interest both of the states of the south – east Europe, and the EU regarding the Western Balkans' integration in the European structures.

On today's meeting, there has been achieved an important progress regarding the institutionalization of the cooperation process of south – east Europe through the decision on the creation of a permanent secretariat and the assurance of a liaison officer with EU, Prime Minister has stated.

“ By the setting up of the permanent secretariat, there will be an institutional structure to supervise these projects and to assure the permanent liaison with the European Union and the Stability Pact. In this way, the regional cooperation projects which we initiate will be able to easily concretize ”, Prime Minister has appreciated.

First of all, I would like to thank the Hellenic Chairmanship in Office for offering us the opportunity to present the conclusions of the summit. Let me appreciate your very valuable efforts, Prime Minister Karamanlis for achieving the objectives which were fixed during your Chairmanship in Office.

I think two of the most important have to be clearly underlined. These are: firstly, the institutionalization of SEECP and the second one, improving the regional cooperation as we have this obvious example today, through the signature of the Agreement concerning the high performance railway network in the region. We all agreed that there is a paramount need for the commitment of the whole region in order to strengthen the cooperation.

Regional cooperation has an undeniable role for the concretization of the European perspective of the region. Nevertheless, we are all aware that regional cooperation is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the Western Balkans to get closer to the European Union. The SEECP countries stressed that there is a mutual interest of South – Eastern Europe and of the EU regarding the integration of the Western Balkans in the European structures. They show the readiness for doing all necessary efforts in order to achieve this goal.

We appreciated the role of Thessaloniki agenda in supporting states of the region to get access to the EU, and we welcome that most of the objectives set in the agenda were accomplished. All the participant states paid particular attention to the way the process can contribute to the efforts of the SEECP states to get close to the EU. In this respect, we supported the nomination of a liaison officer who will have to assure the link between the EU and the process.

During our meeting, we also debated upon the role that the SEECP should have in the reshaping of the Stability Pact. We need a comprehensive strategy which we consider vital for attracting financial support of the international community in the post – Pact period.

I have presented during our meeting the outcome of the regional meeting we held in Bucharest, about which, Mr. Ivo Sanader has already spoken for launching the process of modernizing and enlargement of CEFTA. I am fully convinced that we shall achieve our target we have. We have discussed about the end of negotiations until the end of September, which will enable the CEFTA member countries, Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania to accompany the newcomers in this process which we want to be very successful.

We consider this initiative a special contribution to the success of the regional cooperation, based on a pragmatic platform, supported by both the Stability Pact and the European Commission.

Regarding the SEECP institutionalization, we all agree that there is a large need for developing an operational dimension which should support the political approaches of the Summit. It is a real challenge, we do need a secretariat but we must not forget the technical details.

We welcome the decision of bringing the Republic of Moldova among the SEECP participating states and we consider this step will be a strong incentive for this country to continue the efforts meant to get closer to the EU standards.

We also touched upon the development of regional infrastructure, a crucial issue for connecting the South – Eastern Europe with a Western European network of transportation. We asked for the active implication of all countries for reshaping the Stability Pact and increasing the SEECP efficiency. This work should be done on a solid base much more pragmatic and efficient, keeping in mind the need to substantiate the regional ownership concept. For ending, let me wish the necessary success to the Prime Minister of Croatia, Mr. Ivo Sanader, which will hold the chairmanship - in - office. You can count on our support.