EU accession treaty for Romania published on the Internet

April 11, 2005

Romania's Ministry of European Integration has made public the text of the European Union's Accession Treaty with Romania and Bulgaria, making it available on its website. The text of the treaty is available freely, in Romanian, at.

The Accession Treaty, which is due to be voted by the European Parliament on April 13 and signed on April 25, is the legal document facilitating Romania and Bulgaria's accession to the EU, which, according to the treaty, will take place on January 1, 2007.

The treaty's content has been posted online in order to inform Romanians of the costs, standards and responsibilities of European Union accession. The text was published after the European Commission asked for Romania and Bulgaria to better inform their citizens of what EU accession actually means. Bulgaria similarly made available the content of the treaty, in the Bulgarian language, in early April.

Once the Accession Treaty is signed, Romania and Bulgaria will have to withdraw from the Central European Free Trade Agreement, as they will be integrated into the EU-wide free trade area. Additionally, from April 25, the two countries will send observers to the European Parliament and will be able to participate in other European Union institutions and events as observers.

When the two countries join in 2007, the European Union will have 27 members in total and more than 480 million citizens. The timetable for accession, and the implementation of the treaty, however, will be in jeopardy if the European Parliament fails to approve the accession of the two countries on April 13, or if the two countries are deemed unprepared for accession by the European Commission, in which case the so-called safeguard clause will come into effect, postponing accession by one year.

Related news

 * European Commission approves the accession of Bulgaria and Romania, WikiNews, February 23, 2005