Roemenië treedt in januari 2007 toe, volgens premier (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The Romanian prime minister has predicted that his country will enter the EU in January as planned, appearing confident that next week's European Commission progress report will not contain "red flag" areas and safeguard clauses.

"I think we can foresee that everything will go well, that the report will be positive," Calin Popescu-Tariceanu said on Thursday (21 September) talking to reporters in Brussels.

"As of the 1st of January we will become members, full members of the European Union," he stated.

The Romanian leader was speaking just days before the release of a key commission report due next Tuesday which is expected to confirm 1 January as Bucharest's accession date.

In an earlier report in May, Brussels kept open the option of postponing membership by one year, putting pressure on Romania and fellow EU hopeful Bulgaria to do more to fight corruption and crime and ensure proper spending of future EU funds.

The May report cited four areas of "serious concern" or "red flags" for Romania, the most important being the delay in setting up agencies to distribute EU farm money, while the other three referred to administrative shortcomings in taxation and agriculture.

But Mr Popescu-Tariceanu appeared optimistic that these "red flags" will be scrapped in Tuesday's report, saying that the commission had stressed "progress" in various meetings and missions on the ground.

"Based on all that, in my opinion there will be very few areas which will still be open to criticism and concern," he stated.

A Thursday morning meeting with commission president Jose Manuel Barroso had not revealed "any specific concern related to the commission report" he said.

But the Romanian leader added "The report I'm sure will still be amended and is still in its preparatory phase. There are areas which are considered as critical," saying there is "room for progress" in key areas such as judicial reform and agricultural payments agencies.

He said that it is "up to the commission" to decide if it wants to trigger any safeguard clauses - such as a suspension of EU funds for Romania - to sanction Bucharest for failed entry preparations.

"All I can do is express my hope that there will be no safeguard clauses in the report."

He hinted however that safeguard measures are unlikely, predicting that "Romania will be monitored in the same way as the previous ten [new member] countries who acceded in 2004."

"There will be no additional requirements and there will be no discrimination as far as we are concerned."