Pressure mounts on Romania over access for lorries

Date: 03/02/2000

By Renée Cordes

The European Commission is stepping up pressure on Romania to conclude an agreement on the movement of lorries between Bucharest and EU member states as once-vital routes in the Balkans remain closed.

Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio is threatening to tie progress on the agreement, which has been stalled for more than four years, with Romania's application for EU membership. "We plan to link this point to others in the framework of the enlargement negotiations," said a spokesman.

The institution's warning follows increasing complaints from Greece, whose hauliers have been hard-pressed to find alternative routes to those in the former Yugoslavia since last year's Kosovo war.

The Commission has already concluded agreements with Bulgaria and Hungary on quotas for truck-traffic travelling in either direction, with the two countries agreeing to allow 13,000 and 12,500 Union lorries respectively onto their roads every year.

But discussions with Romania remain the slow lane amid arguments over how many permits Bucharest will grant Union lorries and under what conditions.

Under a draft agreement discussed in December 1998, 14,000 EU lorries would have been able to travel on Romanian roads each year and Bucharest would have received 7,000 authorisations to travel in any of the Union's 15 member states. But Romania is now offering significantly fewer permits for EU vehicles.

The European Commission is stepping up pressure on Romania to conclude an agreement on the movement of lorries between Bucharest and EU Member States as once-vital routes in the Balkans remain closed.