No accession guarantees

European Commissioner for Enlargement Gunther Verheugen says negotiations with Romania and Bulgaria have indeed progressed but there is no guarantee they will be concluded by the end of 2004, the European Parliament web page shows. In his statements before the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, Verheugen said that enlargement would definitely be a success, adding that he was convinced more than ever that the EU had timed this enlargement exactly right. He also said the problems in the applicant states would be solved before accession took place. “We are aware that the negotiations can be taken for granted only when finished, or else they would not be negotiations,” Romania’s Negotiator for the EU Vasile Puscas said. He added the Romanian authorities were aware that negotiating the EU accession for Romania and Bulgaria had become more difficult, because of the content, but also because of the political and institutional context of 2004. ZF