As the time for voting has come, there is hope for Romania and Bulgaria in the European Parliament's final debate. There are also open warnings, as tough as never before. As for the hope, both Rapporteur Pierre Moscovici and Council president Douglas Alexander emphasized Romania's visible progress and possibility to stick to the calendar and January 1st, 2007 as targeted date. Moscovici outlined Romania's progress for accession and mentioned the many changes and reforms that Romanian authorities had proceeded to in all fields. Both Alexander and Commissioner Olli Rehn replied there still were significant flaws, mentioned in the warnings sent to Romania and in reports. Alexander concluded the date of accession had not been decided yet and expressed appreciation for Rehn's analysis, claiming to support Romania's efforts. But we should be ready for postponement, unless we are ready with everything. It was the first time that Rehn put it as bluntly as possible: as already known, the European Commission is to release final reports on Romania and Bulgaria in May 2006. If the case, they will recommend that the safeguard clause should be activated and the accession of Romania and Bulgaria should be postponed 1 year. But there is good news too. Sociologists succeeded in negotiation for replacing the "self-governing" phrase with "democratic descentralization" without asking the Romanian government for support to enlarged autonomy. Moscovici negotiated for dropping CIA amendments Moscovici made us a gift. He negotiated for dropping the 2 amendments asking for inquiries on alleged CIA detention and torture centers. This can be a real advantage right now, because of the very hot European debate on the issue. Now let's wait for the voting. But there can be no great surprises at least for now, unless the international child adoption issue gets hot again. Romania has been taken up again as far as this is concerned because of the priorities announced by the new US Ambassador to Bucharest, who demanded new analysis of child adoption cases. It is a very delicate matter for the Europeans and a potential source of great trouble for Romania. Let's hope God will be with us until May and the EU will get budget for enlargement. If not, all the talk on hopes and warnings is in vain. We will know it by the end of this week.

Cristian UNTEANU, Brussels