The napkin that was allegedly used by Stalin in Yalta to draw the map of Europe’s division was never found. The consequences of those agreements are only now melting away, thirteen years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the symbol that divided Europe between the “good guys” and the “bad guys.”
Starting today, Copenhagen is hosting the European Council summit, during which ten new states will be invited to join the European Union as of May 1, 2004. This is a historic meeting, considering not only the practical consequences of expansion, but also its symbolism. This is, by far, the biggest expansion in the EU history, which began in the ’50s. With a population of 380 million, 100 million more than the current levels, the European Union will become “the world’s largest domestic market,” as Romano Prodi, chairman of the European Commission, put it.
Expansion is also important to Romania. The Council will release a roadmap (precise terms and tasks aimed to solve all problems) for Romania and Bulgaria and will also set (in this document) January 1, 2007 as the accession date for the two countries. Romania can now relax a little and focus on the steps it must take by that date. Additional financial aid, set to reach 1bn euros by 2006, is sure to help it focus better. Bulgaria and Romania hope to wrap up the accession negotiations by the end of next year. Bulgaria has opened 31 chapters and closed 23, while Romania has 28 chapters opened and 15 closed.
Romania and the European Union yesterday signed three EU non-reimbursable funding memorandums under the Phare 2002 programme, worth 278.5 million dollars. For the money to be released, these documents must be ratified by Parliament. Ever since the Phare debut in 1991, Romania has been granted funds worth 1.7 billion euros.
This year, the non-reimbursable amounts granted to Romania under the three pre-accession programmes (Phare, ISPA and SAPARD) amount to 660 million dollars.
The European Commission in October decided to up these amounts starting 2004, when the first ten candidate countries become EU members, with the total amount to balloon to one billion euros in 2006.
European Integration minister Hildegard Puwak yesterday said, after signing the documents, that the Romanian President and Premier, who will attend the European Council summit in Copenhagen, would ask for more funds, as Romania needs to catch up with the first wave countries. The Commission had said that financing for Romania should go up by 20% in 2004, 30% in 2005 and 40% in 2006, considering the average aid levels throughout 2001-2003.



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