Romania's less than glittering prize Tobias Buck in Brussels Poor Romania. After decades of communist dictatorship and a bloody, violent revolution the country finally managed the transition to democracy. It endured years of economic and political upheaval, rising crime and the exodus of young and talented workers to the rich countries of western Europe.
Month by month, the government inched its way towards membership of the European Union. It enacted all 85,000 pages of EU law. It rolled out the red carpet every time a lowly bureaucrat from Brussels came to visit. It sat through long nights of negotiations to sort out the country's farm budget and clean up the state aid regime. At last, Romanians thought they had made it. The country is now only two months away from becoming a fully paid-up member of the Union, with its own seat at the table and its very own commissioner in Brussels. But just as Romanians were settling down to enjoy their new privileges, the country has received a shattering blow. It has just been told that - no matter how hard the government and its citizens fought to get in - it is worth next to nothing in Brussels. All it deserves - in one long, brutal and clinically clear word - is: multilinguism. That, in fact, will be the extent of the portfolio entrusted to the new Romanian member of the European Commission when he joins the Brussels body in January. This means he will be handed just a quarter of the responsibilities currently held by Jan Figel, the Slovakian commissioner whose current briefs include education, training, sport and culture - in addition to multilinguism. Mr Figel, it must be said, has not enjoyed a particularly high profile since his appointment in November 2004. His rare moments in the limelight, moreover, were exclusively due to education and training. For Leonard Orban, the Romanian commissioner-in-waiting, things will be far tougher. He has, essentially, no job worth its name. This is all the more puzzling since there were many other options available: some of the current jobs could easily have been split to make room for a new Romanian commissioner for humanitarian aid, or for employment or for legal affairs. Mr Orban's Bulgarian counterpart, to add insult to injury, has just been handed the important consumer affairs portfolio. Mr Orban and the country he represents have, in effect, been cut down to size before they have properly arrived. In his note of congratulations to Mr Orban, Mr Figel said the creation of a new multilinguism commissioner was a "clear indication of the importance given to this issue by the new Commission". No, it is not. It is a reflection of Romania's standing in Brussels, and maybe also a punishment for the country's poor handling of the appointment process. But José Manuel Barroso, the Commission president and the man in charge of dividing up the new posts, showed poor judgement all the same. Having travelled down the long and hard road towards EU membership, Romania would have deserved a little more respect. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006 "FT" and the "Financial Times" are trademarks of The Financial Times. -- ______________ EuroAtlantic Club monitoring Romania's journey towards the EU http://www.europe.org.ro/euroatlantic_club/ mail to: P.O.Box 13-166, Bucharest 011737 e-mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** sustineti [romania_eu_list] prin 2% din impozitul pe 2005 - detalii la http://www.doilasuta.ro *** Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/romania_eu_list/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/romania_eu_list/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
