Corruption a thing of the past in Romania, says Tariceanu

By Dana Spinant

Date: 31/03/05

The prime minister of Romania says that he is "sincerely frustrated" with some MEPs' failure to acknowledge the progress his country has made since last December's elections.

Reacting to months of strong criticism of Romania's performance and calls, particularly from centre-right MEPs, to delay the European Parliament's vote on the accession treaty, Calin Popescu Tariceanu said their views were "based on outdated information".

In an interview with European Voice he said that his government had taken serious action to eradicate corruption since coming to office.

"We took many measures that give a clear signal to the political and business environment that corruption is a thing of the past in Romania," he said. "We worked with an association of non-governmental organisations called the commission for a clean parliament and we had the courage to submit our lists to this tough NGO filter. We formed a parliament composed of people with an irreproachable personal and professional track. We did the same thing at the level of the government."

Tariceanu said that he had appointed an "independent person" as justice minister, "to give a clear message that we want to respect the independence of justice and to give it the capacity to attack corruption".

The prime minister said that strong action was being taken against those firms that constituted "the political clientele of the former government".

"We de-connected them from sources of political influence. Today, the managers of firms which deprived the state of hundreds of millions of euro are under investigation or under arrest."

The finance ministry had blocked the accounts of 3,300 firms that did not pay their debts to the state, such as VAT or health insurance. Tariceanu said that earlier this month the government took another important decision to combat corruption. "We made public the amounts of public money allocated for government advertising and the way that was spent," he said. In the last four years, more than €65 million had been spent by ministries and state institutions on government advertising, as a way of "controlling and determining a favourable opinion about those in power".

Romania must fulfil 11 conditions for accession to take place on 1 January 2007, but Tariceanu said that delaying accession "would provoke immense disappointment among the population".

"Romanians are making efforts and sacrifices for the accession to the EU," he said. Despite imminent tax increases on alcohol, tobacco and oil, Romanians still thought that the advantages of joining the EU outweighed the costs, he said. "And they are willing to assume these costs."

Tariceanu said that he would be happy to meet personally with those MEPs sceptical of Romania's preparedness to join the EU.

Several members of the centre-right European People's Party (EPP-ED) had called for the vote on Romania's accession treaty to be postponed to October, when the European Commission will present a progress report on Romania. But on Wednesday (30 March) the Parliament's foreign affairs committee approved Romania and Bulgaria's accession treaty while insisting that the assembly should be kept informed by the Commission on their progress. Under a safeguard clause in the treaty, the two countries' accession to the EU could be delayed by one year, if they fail to make progress. The clause is tougher in the case of Romania, which is thought to be lagging behind Bulgaria in preparation for membership.

Article based on an interview with the Prime Minister of Romania, Calin Popescu Tariceanu, who said that he was 'sincerely frustrated' with some MEPs' failure to acknowledge the progress his country has made since the elections of December 2004. Several members of the European Parliament's centre-right European People's Party (EPP-ED) had called for the vote on Romania's accession treaty to be postponed to October 2005, when the European Commission was to present a progress report on Romania. Romania had to fulfil 11 conditions for accession to take place on 1 January 2007, but Tariceanu said that delaying accession 'would provoke immense disappointment among the population'.