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European Commission officials are to visit Sofia and Bucharest this week to assess judicial reforms, EurActiv Romania reports. The visit takes place amid mounting pressure in Brussels to invoke so-called "safeguard clauses" against the two countries, which could result in EU funds being slashed.

Background: Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU in January 2007 under precise conditions. There are three areas where safeguard measures can be invoked under Bulgaria and Romania's EU Accession Treaties: economic, internal market and judicial reforms.  The safeguard clause can be invoked up to three years after accession and could result for example in food export bans or cuts to EU funds in areas such as agriculture and "structural" policies.

Experts from the European Commission will visit Sofia and Bucharest in the week of 19-23 May to assess the justice reforms, EurActiv.ro writes. According to reports in the Romanian press, the mission takes place at a time when some officials in Brussels are wondering whether taking the two countries onboard as early as January 2007 was "a mistake" and are applying pressure to activate the safeguard clause on justice.  Both countries could lose EU funds or have their national court decisions annulled if a safeguard clause is triggered against them. 

The Commission's interim reports on the progress made by Romania and Bulgaria on judiciary reform and fighting corruption and organised crime show that both countries must seriously step up their efforts ahead of the next detailed evaluation due in mid-2008. Otherwise they could face sanctions, Brussels warned. Related:

European Union Commission: Report On Progress in Bulgaria under the Co-operation and Verification Mechanism (4 February 2008) Commission: Report On Progress in Romania under the Co-operation and Verification Mechanism (4 February 2008) Commission memo: Interim Report on Progress in Bulgaria with Judiciary Reform and the Fight against Corruption and Organised Crime (4 February 2008) [FR] [DE] Commission memo: Interim Report on Progress in Romania with Judiciary Reform and the Fight against Corruption (4 February 2008) [FR] [DE] Commission: Assessing ongoing progress by Bulgaria and Romania [FR] [DE]

Having consistently made 'technical' progress, Bulgaria and Romania need help to crack down on corruption, the European Commission said on 22 July with the publication of its annual monitoring reports, pledging further support while the two EU newcomers remain under scrutiny.

Background: When Romania and Bulgaria joined the EU on 1 January 2007, shortcomings remained regarding judicial reform and the fight against corruption - and in the case of Bulgaria, the fight against organised crime. These shortcomings carried the risk that the two countries would be unable to apply Community law correctly and their citizens would not be able to fully enjoy their rights as EU citizens.  A Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) was set up to assist both member states. Moreover, the European Commission retained the right to use special safeguards, included in the accession treaties and invoked against new member states as a last resort. If used, the process could lead the EU to refuse to recognise court decisions or even freeze payments of EU funds. Such an unprecedented decision, if applied, would also badly hurt the countries' reputations.  In a turnaround compared to previous monitoring reports, where Bulgaria was invariably portrayed as the laggard in meeting EU standards on judicial reform and fighting corruption (EurActiv 24/07/09), the Brussels executive unveiled reports last February which depicted Romania as the slow performer this time (EurActiv 13/02/09).  The annual reports on Bulgaria and Romania are prepared by the Commission's secretariat-general under the authority of President José Manuel Barroso, in agreement with Vice-President Jacques Barrot. Recently the French Senate cautioned against "stigmatising" the EU's most recent members and suggested fine-tuning the CVM (EurActiv 30/06/09). 

Romania's "huge bureaucracy" means EU funds allocated to Romania are not being used, the country's President Traian Basescu told parliament in Bucharest on Monday (9 March). EurActiv Romania looked into the situation.

President Basescu strongly criticised the Romanian authorities for their inability to absorb funding under EU programmes. On Monday, the country asked the EU and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout to save it from a possible financial crisis. Basescu said that from a total of nine billion euros put at the disposal of Romania by the Union, a total of 5.5 billion has not been used, covering the years 2007, 2008 and 2009. 

The two parties that won the most seats in the Romanian Parliament during elections on 30 November yesterday (14 December) agreed upon a German-style "grand coalition" to govern the country until 2012. EurActiv Romania reports.

The agreement saw former adversaries the PDL (Democrat Liberals close to President Traian Basescu) and the PSD (Social Democrats, until now in opposition) sign a coalition agreement called "A Partnership for Romania".  As anticipated (EurActiv 10/12/08), the new prime minister will be PDL politician Teodor Stolojan, an economist and former World Bank expert. 

Three years after French citizens said 'no' to the European constitution, French MPs and senators on Thursday voted to adopt the EU's new 'Reform Treaty'. Meanwhile, the Slovakian parliament indefinitely postponed a vote on its ratification amid wrangling in parliament.

Thus far, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia and Malta have already ratified the treaty. All four did so by parliamentary vote (see EurActiv 18/12/07, 30/01/08, 05/02/08).  French approval of the Lisbon Treaty is seen as crucial to restore the country's European reputation after the French people rejected the European Constitution - written by former French President Valery Giscard d’Estaing - in 2005.  The rejection, which was considered a personal defeat for then-President Jacques Chirac, delivered a serious blow to the project of European integration and left Europe reeling for several years. 

Romania and Cyprus said on Thursday (31 January) that they would not recognise a unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo. "Cyprus, for reasons of principle, cannot recognise and will not recognise a unilateral declaration of independence", Cypriot foreign minister Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis was quoted as saying by French news agency AFP.

On the same day, Romanian president Traian Basescu made an even stronger statement after a meeting with NATO secretary-general Jaap de Hoop Schefferat in Brussels. "My country will not be able to recognise an independence proclamation by Kosovo on any level (...) whether coordinated or unilaterally proclaimed", he said according to Serbian news site B92.net.

This week Romania’s president faces impeachment proceedings for his removal from office, the foreign minister has already been driven from his post and the premier is embroiled in political hot water, too. Romania, in other words, is stricken by political upheaval as tensions between President Traian Basescu and Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu reach their peak, undermining reforms and slowing the battle against corruption.

Romania and Bulgaria joined the European Union today, helping to end geographic divisions left over from the cold war and extending the borders of the now 27-member bloc eastward to the Black Sea.

"EU membership will bring higher prices", "Europe will drive Romanian companies out of the market", "European standards will destroy popular traditions, like plum brandy, country wine, or pigs slaughtered for Christmas". These and a host of other freshly minted Euro-myths have all made the rounds in Romania on the eve of the country's EU accession. If nobody counters them with any certitude, it is partly because few institutions exist to explain to ordinary people how life will change, or whether it will change, after New Year's Eve.

Romania and Bulgaria will in some respects still be treated by the EU as if they were only candidate members, with the European Commission even slapping a painful "third country" status on Sofia in the area of aviation safety.

Vasile Puscas, university professor and EU chief negotiator has published a study on Romanian accession negotiations and urges the EU to revise its negotiation and communication policy.

The International Herald Tribune concludes its piece by warning that the failure of Romania and – especially – Bulgaria to honour its pre-accession promises mean that further EU enlargement is unlikely. "What has happened in Romania and Bulgaria has changed the rules of the game," the paper quotes Mladenov as saying.

EU divisions were apparent on the eve of the NATO summit in Bucharest on 2-4 April with several heavyweights, including France, opposed to the planned Eastern expansion of the military alliance. EurActiv Romania contributed to this report from Bucharest.

Several EU heavyweights (Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium) are opposed to such a project.  In the meantime, several representatives of the new EU members expressed their support for opening the NATO door to Kiev and Tbilisi.

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said that President Nicolas Sarkozy would oppose the idea at the Summit in Bucharest. "France is not green-lighting Ukraine and Georgia's accession. Paris has a different opinion to that of the US on the matter", Fillon told France Inter Radio, quoted by Rompres. Romanian President Traian Basescu, who is hosting the largest-ever summit of NATO's 26 member states, stated that including Ukraine and Georgia in the MAP is "a logical step from the Romanian point of view".