Customs and power sector, Romania''s most serious problems

The inefficiency of customs and the power sector are the weaknesses Romania will have to deal with regarding its entry into the European union, stated Giovanni Ravasio, the economic advisor to the Government and prime minister Tariceanu.

Ravasio worked with the European Commission for 40 years and closely monitored the macroeconomic evolution of candidate states, including Romania. He is currently the coordinator of a group of experts advising the Romanian premier on economic issues.

“The European Commission has warned Romania about the issue of customs, since once it joins the Union Romania will become an external border of the Union and cannot tolerate slovenly and inefficient custom services,” Ravasio told ZF.

In his opinion, the power sector is another serious issue that the current government ought to find a solution to by completing the privatisation process and liberalising power prices as much as possible.

Beside these areas, Ravasio considers no other structural reforms are needed, at least not as far as the European Commission is concerned

“The Union is expecting an evolution, and not a revolution, from the part of Romania,” explained Ravasio. The premier”s economic advisor also said that all the authorities had to do was abide by the progress details set in the wake of negotiations and embrace cautious policies, avoiding unnecessary risks.

Giovanni Ravasio stated, however, that he was also worried about other economic problems, starting with wage increases. “Personally, I do not know of any country that has offered, for years on end, such consistent wage increases for the budget-paid sector as Romania has,” said Ravasio.

He said that over the last 3 years, starting in 2003, raises granted to the employees of public institutions have considerably exceeded the level of inflation, and the tendency has been maintained in 2005, as well.

In the long term, however, the premier”s advisor considers that wages in the domain of public administration must be lifted on a permanent basis, so as to cut corruption among civil servants and to boost their training.

As a matter of fact, Ravasio stated that the state budget is facing another problem: too high year-end expenditure. As a rule, public expenditure should unfold in a more uniform manner during the year, the premier”s advisor said. mihai.bobocea@zf.ro