Romania Transition to the European Union

1
Romania --Transition to the European Union

• By Tomescu Sava

2
History of EU

• 9 May 1950 --- French Foreign Minister Robert
  Schuman presents a plan for deeper cooperation.
  Later, every 9 May is celebrated as Europe
  Day'.
• 18 April 1951--- the six countries that sign a
  treaty to run their heavy industries (coal and
  steel) under a common management are Germany,
  France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and
  Luxembourg.(1952 is the year that appear as the
  founding year of EU) 1956 Hungarian rise against
  the Russian backed regime, but Russian tanks
  appear on the streets to put out the protests.
• 1957 the six countries expand cooperation ( free
  movement of people, goods and services across
  borders)
  
• 1963 The EU signs its first big international
  agreement a deal to help 18 former colonies in
  Africa. ( by 2005 EU has a par5tnership with 78
  countries in Africa, Caribbean and pacific
  regions
• 1968 Czechoslovakians rise against the Russian
  backed regime, but Russian tanks appear on the
  streets to put out the protests. 600,000 troops
  occupy the country
• 1973 First expansion of the EU with the addition
  of Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom.
  
• 1979 First European parliament is elected
• 1981 Greece becomes part of EU
• 1986 Spain and Portugal join the EU
• 1989 Collapse of Communism across Central and
  Eastern Europe culminates with the fall of
  Berlins Wall, reuniting Germany after more than
  40 years (Eastern Germany joins in 1990)
• 1993 It is established a single market that
  allows free movement of people, goods, services
  and money within the union
  
• 1995 Austria, Finland and Sweden join the EU and
  Shengen Agreement within the states Traveling
  without passport in the EU
  
• 1999 EURO is introduced in 11 countries for
  commercial and financial transactions
  
• 2002 Euro bill and coins arrive and are used in
  parallel with the national currency
  
• 2004 Eight countries of central and eastern
  Europe the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia,
  Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia and
  Slovakia join the EU, finally ending the
  division of Europe decided by the Great Powers 60
  years earlier at Yalta. Cyprus and Malta also
  become members.
• 2007 Romania and Bulgaria become the last
  addition of EU

3
Romania Area 237,500 sq km Population
22,276,056
4
Romania physical position in Europe
5
Romania under imperial powers, but still Romania
6
Romania under imperial powers, but still Romania
7
Romania under imperial powers, but still Romania
8
Romania under imperial powers, but still Romania
9
Romanian Road to EU

• Talks start on February 1993
• Official request to enter the EU in 1995
• Negotiations start in February 2000 to end in
  December the same year
  
• In December 2004, Romania closed the accession
  negotiations to the European Union. The European
  Council of 16-17 December 2004 reconfirmed
  January 1, 2007 as the date of Romanias
  accession to the EU.  
• On 25 April 2005, Romania and Bulgaria, together
  with the representatives of the 25 member states
  of the Union, signed in Luxemburg the Treaty of
  Accession to the European Union.
• Conditions for ascension
• -acceleration of privatization
• -reform of education, medical and judicial
  system
  
• -fight against corruption
• -establish reliable institutions for EU funds
  administration
  
• -Public administration reform
• How do People perceive Ascension to EU
• -Romania are currently prohibited to export live
  pigs, pig meat, and certain pig meat products to
  the EU due to the existence of classical swine
  fever in both countries. The situation as regards
  classical swine fever requires the adoption of
  certain decisions by the European Commission by
  the date of accession
• -implementation of new crops approved by EU
  officers
  
• -problems with the award winning grape wine
  types
  
• - Everything is perceived as a new market for
  Europe Nothing we had before is good enough even
  though it worked for more than 2000 years
  

10
Economy of Romania

• GDP (purchasing power parity)197.3 billion
  (2006 est.)
  
• GDP (official exchange rate)79.17 billion (2006
  est.)
  
• GDP - real growth rate6.4 (2006 est.)
• GDP - per capita (PPP)8,800 (2006 est.)
• GDP - composition by sectoragriculture 10.1
  industry 34.7services 55.2 (2006 est.)
  
• Labor force9.33 million (2006 est.)
• Labor force - by occupationagriculture 31.6
  Industry 30.7 services 37.7 (2004)
  
• Unemployment rate6.1 (2006 est.)
• Population below poverty line25 (2005 est.)
• Current account balance-12.45 billion (2006
  est.)
  
• Exports33 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)
• Exports - commoditiestextiles and footwear,
  metals and metal products, machinery and
  equipment, minerals and fuels, chemicals,
  agricultural products
• Exports - partnersItaly 19.4, Germany 14,
  Turkey 7.9, France 7.4, UK 5.5, Hungary 4.1,
  US 4.1
  
• Imports46.48 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)
• Imports - commoditiesmachinery and equipment,
  fuels and minerals, chemicals, textile and
  products, basic metals, agricultural products
  
• Imports - partnersItaly 15.5, Germany 14,
  Russia 8.3, France 6.8, Turkey 4.9, China 4.1
  
  
• Debt - external42.76 billion (2006 est.)

11
Interesting facts

• Oil
• production 128,000 barrel/day (2004 est.)
• consumption 253,800 barrel/day (2003 est.)
• proved reserves 1.055 billion barrel
• Natural gas
• production 12.6 billion m³ (2003 est.)
• consumption 18.5 billion m³ (2003 est.)
• exports 0 m³ (2001 est.)
• Imports 5.4 billion m³ (2001 est.)
• proved reserves 111.1 billion m³ (1 January
  2002)
  
• Romania was the largest U.S. trading partner in
  Eastern Europe until Ceausescu's 1988
  renunciation of Most Favored Nation
  (non-discriminatory) trading status resulted in
  high U.S. tariffs on Romanian products.
• In August 2005, Romania agreed to forgive 43 of
  the US1.7 billion debt owed by Iraq who is still
  largely occupied by the military forces of the
  U.S.-led "Coalition of the Willing", making
  Romania the first country outside of the Paris
  Club of wealthy creditor nations to forgive Iraqi
  debts.

12
Romania under Comunism

• Part of the Communist block, Not a former Soviet
  Nation
  
• Nicolae Ceausescu --Dictator
• General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party
  
  
• March 22, 1965  December 22, 1989
• 1st President of Romania
• December 9, 1967  December 22, 1989
• Died by execution after formal trial (Dec
  26.1989)
  
• Initially, Ceausescu was a popular figure in
  Romania, due to his independent foreign policy,
  challenging the supremacy of the Soviet Union in
  Romania
• he refused to take part in the 1968 invasion of
  Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact forces
  
• Romania was the first of the Eastern Bloc to have
  official relations with the European Community
  
• However, Ceausescu refused to implement any
  liberal reforms
  
• The secret police (Securitate) maintained firm
  control over speech and the media, and tolerated
  no internal opposition
  

13
Romania under Comunism

• He promoted as a way to build a "multilaterally
  developed socialist society", the program of
  demolition, resettlement, and construction began
  in the countryside, but culminated with an
  attempt to reshape the country's capital
  completely.
• Over one fifth of central Bucharest, including
  churches and historic buildings, was demolished
  in the 1980s, in order to rebuild the city in his
  own style.
• The People's House ("Casa Poporului") in
  Bucharest, now the Parliament House, is the
  world's second largest building, after The
  Pentagon.
• Ceausescu also planned to bulldoze many villages
  in order to move the peasants into blocks of
  flats in the cities, as part of his
  "urbanisation" and "industrialisation" programs
• However most of the Romanian edifices and old
  churches remained in place

14
Romania under Comunism
15
Rules of dealing in the EU

• EU sets new digital media rules
• the new version of the 1989 "TV Without
  Frontiers"
  
• European Commission's proposals are for
  regulating video on demand, mobile television and
  other emerging media formats
  
• Broadcasters will remain limited to 12 minutes of
  advertising per hour
  
• EU Media Commissioner Viviane Reding said It
  promises less regulation, better financing for
  European content and higher visibility to
  Europe's key values, cultural diversity and the
  protection of minors,"
• Single euro payments area (SEPA)
• competitive and innovative euro area retail
  payments market
  
• more efficient products and cheaper alternatives
  for making payments

16
Rules of dealing in the EU

• Digitally delivered goods and services (from US)
  consumed within the EU will be subject to VAT
  (Value Added Tax 2002), irrespective of whether
  they are supplied from within or outside the EU.
• When these goods and services are consumed
  outside the EU they will not be subject to VAT.
  
• US based suppliers of these types of services to
  EU based consumers will be directly affected.
  Prices to their consumers are likely to rise and
  they will face additional compliance requirements
  including registering and dealing with an EU
  based tax authority

17
Europe vs. USA Whose Economy Wins?

• In what sense is the US richer?
• Average gross domestic product (GDP) in the US is
  about 40 higher than average GDP of the EU-15
  when measured at purchasing power parity (PPP).
  
• The main reason the US is richer is
• because a higher proportion of Americans are in
  employment
  
• they work about 20 more hours per year than
  Europeans
  
• US workers have needed to put in more years and
  longer hours simply to maintain their real income
  position
  
• At the youth end of the scale, young workers in
  the US get less education and those who go to
  university are more likely to work part-time than
  their European counterparts
• At the older end of the scale, pension provision
  in the US is neither as broad nor as generous as
  in the EU, so people particularly the poor who
  cannot afford to save for retirement carry on
  working
• The most important feature of the comparison is
  neither the growth nor the unemployment record of
  the US and the EU. It is, rather, that US growth,
  unlike that in the EU, is funded by a dangerously
  high mountain of foreign debt
• Anybody who claims that the US provides a model
  which the EU should copy needs to consider the
  basic economic facts of the case. (The Federalist
  Debate, Nov 2006)