On May 30 – 31sr, 2006 President of Romania, Traian Basescu payed a visit to France and met French President Jacques Chirac, minister of domestic affairs Nicolas Sarkozy, president of the National Assembly Foreign Affairs Committee Edouard Balladur, president of the French Senate, Christian Poncelet, and president of the National Assembly Jean-Louis Debre.
President Traian Basescu also met in Paris Pierre Moscovici, vice-president of the European Parliament and rapporteur on Romania in order to discuss on Romania 's integration into the European Union.
Romanian President also had meeting with the business community, representatives of French companies with investments in Romania .
Bucharest Daily News
Basescu: Talks with Jacques Chirac confirm France 's support
Denisa Maruntoiu
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The French Senate might ratify Romania 's accession treaty by the end of June, according to French Senate leader Christian Poncelet.
"I want the Senate to finalize the ratification procedures of Romania 's EU accession treaty by the end of June or on July 10, in order for the ratification to be completed before the visit of President Jacques Chirac to Bucharest in September," told the president of the French Senate Christian Poncelet to President Traian Basescu.
Basescu started a two-day visit to France on Tuesday, aiming to convince the French parliament to speed up the ratification procedures, as the treaty needs to be ratified by all the EU countries by the end of the year in order for Romania to join the union at the beginning of 2007, as scheduled.
France is among the eight EU state members that haven't yet ratified Romania 's accession treaty.
Poncelet pointed out that he cannot yet specify a clear date, but assured Basescu that all the French lawmakers want to complete the ratification before the end of the parliamentary session.
In addition, according to Romanian official sources quoted by Mediafax news agency, Poncelet said that the Senate is willing to call for an extraordinary session during the parliamentary vacation in case the treaty is not ratified in time.
The president's meeting yesterday with Poncelet and the president of the National Assembly, Jean-Louis Debre, followed the discussions he had on Tuesday evening with France' President Jacques Chirac and the EP's rapporteur on Romania, French MEP Pierre Moscovici.
After his one-hour meeting with Chirac, Basescu announced the French National Assembly will be the first to ratify Romania's EU accession treaty on June 27 and pointed out that Chirac expressed his full support with respect to Romania joining the EU on January 1, 2007, adding that contrary to popular opinion in Romania, the French people want Romania to be an EU member as soon as possible.
In addition, Basescu said Chirac assured him the French parliament will finalize the ratification treaty on October 2, before the final country report by the EC.
"President Chirac told me that he has had talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkle about the ratification of the treaty and assured me that both France and Germany will ratify it in time," said Basescu.
Moscovici also told Basescu that Romania must join the EU on January 1, 2007 , but stressed that the authorities need to continue with the reforming process as the EU expects Romania to solve the problems mentioned in the EC's report published on May 16.
At the end of the meeting with Basescu, Moscovici said the president is aware of the need to speed up the reforming process. "The president knows how important the pace of reform is. He even reprimanded the government for the slow progress in certain areas," said Moscovici.
As for the ratification procedures, Moscovici underlined that it is very important that France announced its intention to ratify the treaty before the EC's report in autumn, as it is a sign of trust given to Romania .
Basescu and Moscovici also talked about the future enlargement of the EU, the president pointing out that Romania agrees with the EP's resolution adopted in Rome , which says that after Romania and Bulgaria 's accession, the EU will temporarily suspend the enlargement process.
'The next enlargement wave will probably regard the Western Balkans. This way, we will have time to help Moldavia prepare for the accession process," said Basescu.
While in Paris , the president also met with over 50 French businessmen whom he applauded for having invested in Romania . Basescu also pointed out that Romania is a hot spot when it comes to efficient investments, as the economic growth in the past six years has been significant.
"Whoever decides to invest in Romania will not go down," said the president.
In addition, in an interview granted to Radio France International, the president also tackled the issue of Romanians working abroad, including those in France .
"The Romanian labor market provided, through its high absorption capacity, many jobs for the French industry," said Basescu, adding that Romanians working abroad have started to return home because the development of Romania 's economy has led to a shortage in the work force.
Basescu said that it is enough to notice how many French products are consumed in Romania in order to realize that Romania has also provided jobs for the French people.
Basescu also said that he and Chirac have held talks about the 11th summit of the heads of state and governments of the francophone countries that is to be hosted by Romania in September.
"Romania is ready for this event, which I think is the most important political summit hosted by Romania in the last 50 years," said Basescu, adding that he has decided together with Chirac and the general secretary of the Francophony, Abdou Diouf, that all logistical preparations must be ready by June 30.
At the end of his visit to Paris , the president pointed out that he is to have a similar visit to Germany in early September in order to persuade German Chancellor Angela Merkel that the German parliament has viable reasons to ratify expeditiously Romania 's accession treaty.
http://www.daily-news.ro/article_detail.php?idarticle=26974
Bucharest Daily News
Basescu: France will ratify Romania 's accession treaty on October 2
Denisa Maruntoiu
"The French National Assembly will be the first to ratify Romania 's EU accession treaty on June 27," President Traian Basescu said yesterday after a meeting he had in Paris with his French counterpart Jacques Chirac.
Basescu pointed out that Chirac expressed his full support with respect to Romania joining the EU on January 1, 2007 , adding that contrary to popular opinion in Romania , the French people want Romania to be an EU member as soon as possible.
In addition, Basescu said Chirac assured him that the French parliament will finalize the ratification treaty on October 2, before the final country report by the EC.
"President Chirac told me that he has had talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkle about the ratification of the treaty and assured me that both France and Germany will ratify it in time," said Basescu.
Basescu started his two-day visit to Paris yesterday, leaving for France directly from Elias Hospital . He is accompanied by two doctors that make sure he continues his rehabilitation exercises. A month ago Basescu underwent surgery on a slipped disk.
Before heading to Paris , the president said the discussions between him and Chirac would focus on Romania 's EU accession treaty, as France is among the eight EU member states that have not yet ratified the treaty.
The presidential administration stated that Basescu is to call on the French parliament to speed up the ratification procedures, as the treaty needs to be ratified by all the EU countries by the end of the year in order for Romania to join the union at the beginning of 2007, as scheduled.
At present, 17 states have concluded the ratification procedures.
Another discussion topic announced by the president's office was the post-accession cooperation between the two countries, with the goal of "maintaining the special relations between Romania and France ."
During the two-day visit, Basescu is also to meet with the EP's rapporteur on Romania, French MEP Pierre Moscovici, the president of the French Senate Christian Poncelet, the president of the National Assembly, Jean-Louis Debre, as well as members of the French Commission for Foreign Affairs led by Deputy Edouard Balladur.
The president will also hold talks with the general secretary of the Francophony, Abdou Diouf, as in September, Romania will host the 11th summit of the heads of state and governments of the francophone countries.
In addition, Basescu will have several meetings with preeminent French businessmen to tackle the bilateral economic cooperation between the two countries.
http://www.daily-news.ro/article_detail.php?idarticle=26941
