EU officials expected for market economy debate

A delegation of the European Commission’s Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs is due to arrive in Bucharest this week to discuss functional market economy issues with the Romanian authorities, Hildegard Puwak, European Integration minister on Monday said. Inquired about Romania’s chances of getting the functional market economy status in the European Commission’s country report this November, Puwak said meeting the functional market criterion “does not begin today and ends in November”. She explained the Government was reviewing the progress in meeting this criterion during its every weekly session and monitored the process together with Prime Minister’s advisor, Giovani Ravazio, former director general within the European Commission. The existence of a functional market economy is the first of the two economic criteria for accession set at the European Council in Copenhagen in December 1993 and intended to enable the applicant states to cope with the competitive pressure on the European Union market. ZF