Road to Europe still rocky

The European Parliament has voted in favour of Romanian entry for 2007, but hopes that every European country would ratify the treaty for accession were thrown into disarray when the German opposition, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), said it favoured delaying entry by a year. Before 2007 every EU country’s parliament has to give a positive vote to Romania’s accession hopes in a strong majority to assure the country enters the union. Ole von Beust, a CDU mayor has declared that he doesn’t want Romania to become a “bottomless sack” for European funds. (See special EU feature).

President Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine has proposed to Traian Basescu a common administration of the Bystroe canal, a Ukrainian construction in the Black Sea that has caused criticism for its damaging effects on the Danube Delta. Yushchenko, who is the first head of state to visit Romania after the 2004 presidential elections, and Basescu agreed to form three Romanian-Ukrainian committees to deal with the breakaway Transnistrian district of Moldova, ethnic minorities and the canal.

Traian Basescu has declared to The Financial Times that France should stop scolding Romania for its relationship with the US and Great Britain. Basescu said that Chirac had “offended” EU candidate states when, in 2003, he asked them “not to speak” about Iraq. Jacques Chirac has been quoted as saying that in 2003, when Romania supported the Iraq war, it lost “a good opportunity to keep silent”. Basescu added that the offence was made even worse by French Foreign Affairs Minister Michel Barnier’s declaration, during a visit to Bucharest, that Basescu does not have “a European reflex”. However Presidential counsellor Adriana Saftoiu later said that Traian Basescu had not made the comments.

All 110 Romanian commercial attaches will be recalled home for retraining. The commercial missions will also be renamed 'economical expansion centers'. Also, for the first time, attaches will have to apply for their jobs and win a post through an interview process.

Former minister of foreign affairs Mircea Geoana has won the presidency of the PSD party with 964 votes against Ion Iliescu's 530 votes at the recent party congress. For the executive, former deputy mayor of Bucharest Sorin Oprescu gathered only 443 votes against ex-prime minister Nastase's 1,018 votes. The general secretary of the party is now former minister of transport Miron Mitrea. After the congress had finished, the new president of the PSD had declared that he will create a “fantastic” team with Adrian Nastase, but also mentioned that he is expecting advice and support from Iliescu.

Doctors fight back against prescription quotas

A senior doctor's union has called for the resignation of the minister of health Mircea Cinteza over a new law that limits the number of subsidised prescriptions doctors can give to financially disadvantaged groups, such as students and the elderly. The Federative Chamber of Doctors's president Dr Dan Peretianu told The Diplomat: “I don't like the Minister telling me how many prescriptions I can write. And I really don't understand Cinteza's decision, especially when six months ago he was fighting with me against the restrictions on subsidised drugs.” The trade-unionists are going to take the ministry to court.

Four down, dozens to go

Romanian ambassadors Traian Chebeleu (Austria), Petru Ioan Cordos (Lithuania), Caius Traian Dragomir (Greece) and Mihai Dinucu (Croatia) have been recalled from their embassies, as part of Minister Ungureanu’s intentions to reform the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, according to press reports. At the beginning of March, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs made public the fact that 38 diplomats would be recalled from Romanian embassies, consulates or missions abroad because they ended their mandate in 2005, were approaching their retirement age.