Romania Senate Speaker Concerned About „Hidden” Terms For EC’s EUR5B Loan

"I will not hide my deep concern about the intention of the European Commission and the ECOFIN to tie the EUR 5 billion loan, which is meant to support Romania’s balance of payments, to the European Union Cooperation and Verification Mechanism. I honestly think this is not at all fair and this gesture is likely to deepen the gap between Romania and the other EU member states, despite its commitments to the EU," Geoana said at the meeting, which focuses on the progresses made so far by the Romanian Parliament with respect to the commitments included in the EC justice report.

 

Geoana called on the ambassadors attending the meeting to clearly voice out across the other European capitals the standpoint of the Romanian Parliament and of all those who represent Romanians in Parliament in a democratic way.

 

He also told the ambassadors that Romania’s revised legal codes and its commitments as EU member state "also represent, on the one hand, the commitment of Romania’s Parliament."

 

Romanian Evenimentul Zilei daily reported Wednesday, citing European sources, that "a quarter of the foreign loan agreement Romania signed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Commission is likely to reach a deadlock, as the EUR5 billion loan from the EC could be conditioned by Romania’s justice reforms and its fight against corruption."

 

According to the same sources, cited by daily Evenimentul Zilei, the official document concerning the foreign loan will supposedly refer to the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, which focuses on Romania’s progress in the field of justice and fight against corruption.

 

The daily also reported, citing a European official, that "Romania must speed up justice reforms and the fight against corruption in order to recover its setbacks over the past few months, by adopting the legal codes needed to “restore” its justice sector and speeding up proceedings involving top-level corruption cases."

 

Romanian President Traian Basescu said the IMF released Tuesday the first tranche of the EUR12.95 billion loan, adding that ECOFIN approved the European Commission loan to Romania, worth of EUR5 billion.

 

The Executive Board of the IMF approved Monday a two-year EUR12.95 billion stand-by arrangement for Romania to support an economic program designed by the Romanian authorities. The first installment is worth about EUR5 billion.

 

The IMF loan is part of a multilateral financial support that will amount to EUR19.95 billion, including EUR5 billion from the EU, and funds from other international institutions.

 

The loan agreement with the European Commission entered in the written procedure for approval by the Economic and Financial Affairs Council – ECOFIN – in a meeting that will end Wednesday at 1400.

 

“The Czech Presidency of the E.U. proposed the financial assistance agreement to enter in the written procedure, a usual practice of the ECOFIN. All E.U. finance ministers attending the Tuesday reunion agreed and made no further comments or remarks,” Romanian Finance Minister Gheorghe Pogea told MEDIAFAX.

 

The formal announcement on the approval of the agreement will be made Wednesday.