Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, president of the European Socialist Party, criticized the decision made by the Romanian government to resign next week in order to prompt early elections.
"The Executive of a candidate country should not give up the fight after one blow," said Rasmussen sreferring to the Constitutional Court ruling which rejected the package of laws reforming the judiciary, trans. notet. He went on to comment that PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu "engaged in political games while his focus should have been to accomplish working reforms."
"It will be awful if Romania would fail to make the 2007 deadline for EU accession because of the political maneuvering of the government," added Rasmussen.
The EU Commission reminded that time was of the essence for Romania to comply with all requirements prior to its accession to the EU structures. It also reminded that both the Executive and the Parliament should work for a successful reform of the judiciary, which will ensure its independence and efficiency, according to provisions enshrined in the Accession Treaty.
Moritz Kraemer , of Standard & Poorâs, said that if early elections were to take place in September or October, implementing the reforms of the judiciary will be postponed several months and the likelihood to have the EU safeguard clause activated will increase sthe clause allowed EU to postpone Romaniaâs accession with one year if it failed to comply with targets agreed upon, trans. notet. So, Moritz said Romania stands now a 50-50 chance to integrate in the EU.
However, it is not clear how early elections will solve the issue prompting them: the judges in the Constitutional Court taking the decision which upset the ruling coalition may not be removed for at least several years each, hence no similar provisions could go passed them.
The leadership of the Democrat Union of Hungar
