Romania rapped over continued corruption

Date: 27/05/04

GUNTER Verheugen, the commissioner for enlargement, has given the Romanian government another fierce rebuke for its failure to tackle corruption in the country that hopes to join the Union in 2007.

The German enlargement chief was responding to calls for action from MEPs about allegations of dirty deeds in the award of a 3 billion contract without a public tender for the construction of a huge motorway route in Transylvania.

He said the Romanian government had taken a number of measures during the last year-and-a-half, which were meant to have tackled corruption.

These include a new "national action plan against corruption" and a national anti-corruption prosecution office, together with "sufficient human and financial resources" that ought to "in theory allow for an

effective fight against corruption".

But, the commissioner concluded: "Given this situation, the continued lack of success in investigating high-level corruption raises questions as to the level of political support given to tackle this issue seriously."

He said his suspicions are backed up by international reports and surveys which "indicate that corruption in Romania remains a problem that undermines the rule of law, restricts economic reform and development and plays a major role in deterring foreign direct investment".

Critics of the 3bn deal, awarded to an American company, Bechtel, under an emergency decree with no parliamentary scrutiny, say the motorway will destroy one of Europe's last remaining medieval landscapes without offering benefits.

The only winners, they say, will be its builders and well-connected individuals who have acquired the land on which the motorway would be constructed.

Verheugen warned Romania that public tenders are a key part of the battle against corruption. He added that the European Commission had blocked the chance of any financial support for the project and demanded further information about the decision, which prompted outrage earlier this year.

• EU OFFICIALS have agreed a deal that could pave the way for a currently deadlocked trade and cooperation accord with Syria. A meeting of EU ambassadors yesterday backed a contentious text on the fight against weapons of mass destruction that had stalled the agreement for several months. A timetable has still to be decided for when to finally sign off the pact.