Bulgarije en Roemenië op koers voor ondertekening toetreding op 25 april 2005 (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Bulgaria and Romania should both sign the EU Accession Treaty as planned, on 25 April, as separating the two cases would be a mistake, MEPs said on Wednesday (16 March).

"If the signatures [of the Accession Treaty] do not happen at the same time, we will condemn everything that has been done by the Romanian government, and send a very negative signal", Pierre Moscovici, the European Parliament's rapporteur for Romania, said.

"It would be seen badly and could be understood as a humiliation by 22 million Romanians", MEPs agreed.

The MEPs were responding to concerns that the safeguard clause - which would postpone EU membership by one year - might be applied to Romania for insufficient progress in some areas, such as Justice and Home Affairs.

Although the Parliamentarians did not exclude the possibility of activating this clause, "which should not be seen as a punishment, but as a guarantee for us [the EU] and an encouragement for Romania", they agreed it should not be done before the signature of the treaty.

And "Bulgaria should not be linked to any other country, but judged on its own merits", the rapporteur for Bulgaria, Geoffrey Van Orden, said.

But he specified he was talking about the time following the signature of the Accession Treaty, not about the signature itself, which, he agreed, should take place at the same time for Sophia and Bucharest.

The European Parliament has to endorse the signature of the Accession Treaties, which lay out the terms on membership for the countries, on 13 April.

The treaties are then due to be signed on 25 April, paving the way for Bulgaria and Romania to become, respectively, the 26th and the 27th member of the EU on 1 January 2007.