Talking about the EU

The Initiative Group for European Dialogue comprised of independent personalities who want to help Romanians understand EU accession announced the opening of a European Integration Forum. More than 86% of Romania’s population favours EU accession. It is however obvious, as shown by recent polls, that the process and mainly its implications are very little known and explained, therefore there is very little awareness and assimilation among people and also among certain business segments. “Romanians need a simple, open dialogue on the integration issues. We know too little about the details of the integration process and what it feels like to live in a unified market. It is capital for us to be fully aware of it,” Misu Negritoiu, ING Bank deputy general manager said. According to Negritoiu, integration is a fundamental anchor for the modernisation of Romanian economy and society, yet this will also entail major adjustment processes. “The 86% of the Romanians that want to join the EU are seeing Brussels as a Maglavit (location of a Virgin Mary sighting in Romania). They just expect Virgin Mary to come and wash our windows and build our roads,” author Stelian Tanase says, picturing the ignorance of many Romanians in this regard. ZF