By Daisy Ayliffe - 17th September 2006
Romania is upbeat ahead of the European commission’s final progress report scheduled for next week.
In an interview with this website, Romanian foreign affairs minister Mihai-Razvan Ungureanu said Bucharest hopes to avoid any strict EU post-entry conditions.
“I can say that our expectations are high. Apart from the date of accession, we hope that the report will consider the progress we have made in the past couple of months,” Ungureanu declared.
“At the commission’s last report we succeeded in putting two of the four red flags out."
The European commission’s September 26 report will reveal if Sofia and Bucharest are ready to join the EU fold on time at the start of next year.
Leaks from the EU executive have suggested Romania could be hit by billions of euros worth of cuts in EU funding if it is shown to be subject to persistent fraud.
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As Romania enters the final straight it has been hitting the headlines across Europe for all the wrong reasons.
Many member states fear they will be hit by a flood of Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants following the next EU enlargement.
“At Friday’s meeting of foreign ministers no member state specifically said they would be putting up immigration restrictions,” Ungureanu said.
But the Romanian minister knows that barriers are being considered right across the EU.
“We know most countries are considering it but I would say that blocking workers is a fruitless exercise. Romanian workers will not create any problems on the contrary I would say that we will slip in unobserved."
Other recent European headlines have centered on allegations of secret CIA detention centres in Romania.
“I think that there may have been worries that CIA allegations could damage our reputation if we were found to have facilities of this kind or prisoners, but since we do not have any, why should we worry?”Ungureanu asked.
A full transcript of this interview can be found here.
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