EU countries could take treaty ratification to last minute

     Two or three European Union countries may not ratify Romania's accession treaty until after the next report on Romania's fitness for EU accession in 2007 is released on 26 September, according to Leonard Orban, secretary of state in the Ministry of European Integration.
     This would only leave these countries two months to pass legislation necessary to allow Romania to join the EU.
     As we went to press, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Finland, Belgium and Luxembourg had not fully ratified the treaty.
     All 25 existing members of the EU bloc have to ratify the treaty in order for Romania to join the EU.
     “But I am fully confident the accession treaty can be ratified in time,” added Orban at a recent British-Romanian Chamber of Commerce event.
     To combat the chance of delaying entry until 2008, the Romanian Government is launching new legislation to clean up and make transparent the relationship between politicians and their money.
     This includes new laws on Political Party Financing and in creating an 'Integrity Committee' to monitor politicians' declarations of wealth.
     In the agricultural sector, which received a 'Red Flag' in the European Commission's May Monitoring Report, Orban also said that the Government is in the process of hiring at least 1,400 people to help rural development paying agencies allow farmers to access EU funds.
     Orban said accession in 2007 was “very likely”