Romania Wants Better EU Entry Terms

Recently elected Romanian President Traian Basescu, may push for changes to his country's terms for joining the EU, according to the Polish press. Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza has reported that Basescu wants the accession treaties to be redrafted to protect his country's economic interests. But the statement has annoyed Brussels, "It's very tempting to agree with Basescu's proposals because we are also unhappy with the treaty, which in our opinion is too generous toward Romania," EU Enlargement Commissioner Oli Rehn said. However, Romanian officials have tried to downplay the spat, claiming that re-negotiating the deal is unlikely and that Bucharest's doubts will be settled by internal debate. Basescu has already pledged to re-negotiate two of the most difficult chapters in the accession treaties -- energy and competition. In order to close the competition chapter, Romania had to agree to implement additional measures, mainly during the course of 2005. Should it fail to do so, the country’s EU accession could be delayed by one year. (EUobserver.com)