Angela Filote is Press and Communication Officer at the EC Delegation in Bucharest. She is a Romanian expert in the field of information and communication, with over ten years of managerial experience as Head of the Press and Communication Department of the EC Delegation in Bucharest.
Mrs Filote has worked for 12 years in communication management, in charge of designing the information strategy and early working program, monitoring progress, assessing impact and managing the information budget.
Angela Filote talked to Ivelina Puhaleva, Editor of Sofia News Agency, about the the path of Romania towards the EU, stumbles and merits of the process, and how the EU should be explained to ordinary people.
Q: Mrs Filote, do you think Romania is getting ahead of Bulgaria in the final line to EU entry?
A: I don't know. What I know for sure is that in both countries there is that perception of a competition. Actually, I believe the competition is with ourselves and in this sense it is important for Romania not to be prepared against Bulgaria, but against the conditions of EU membership. What matters at the end of the day is how they are going to live after accession.
I think that it is fortunate for both countries to have this standard - a common Treaty of Accession to the EU, because it means they are going to join together. When one country is ahead, it will pull along the other countries in other ways around.
Q: Have there ever been in Romania suggestions that the date for EU accession of the two countries depends more on the political struggles inside the Union than on the completion of engagements?
A: Not in these terms. Of course, people realize how important is the political environment in which accession takes place and people in Romania follow closely the debates around the Constitution for the European Union, but also internal debates in various Member states where there are electoral campaigns.
Sometimes people tended to assign exaggerated importance to statements made by individual candidates in Germany, for instance. They were in electoral campaign, they made very strong statements, sometimes statements that outspokenly contradicted the official policy of the country. Then people in Romania have started wondering if Germany's commitment to the country's accession was solid, as we thought it would be. So, people looked a lot on the political environment in the EU Member states, but realized that most of the work has to be done inside the country, because it is also a very consistent message from our politicians.
Q: Do you believe that in this last stretch ahead of planned accession the process would become much closer to ordinary people, as it had been overwhelmingly a political process so far?
A: Definitely - it should happen. Romania has strived for the last three years to go out of the capital city and into the countryside, find partners in communication at a local level in order to reach people. I don't know how it is in Bulgaria, but in Romania there is Bucharest and the rest of the country, and ours is a big country. There are huge differences between the regions, so if you want to produce good results in communication, you really need to go local and go regional in communication.
One important message we have constantly repeated says: "Your accession is not a matter of foreign policy, but of domestic policy. The impact is on domestic policies in Romania, which affect everyday lives of citizens. And this message rings a bell in their heads, as they say: "Ah, how am I going to be affected?"
Q: How would you comment statements that the coupling of Bulgaria and Romania en route to EU was a mistake? Do you think the two countries use these statements for self-advertisement?
A: I do not share this opinion because I do believe each country would be judged on its own merits. For me, statements like these is "putting the blame on the other" - this is not fair and it's not true.
Q: For Romania there is a sterner safeguard clause in the EU Accession Treaty than for Bulgaria. Do you think that it could generate different scenarios for the two countries en route to the EU?
A: As far as I know, there is no different scenario for either country so far as the target accession date is concerned. Every year the European Commission prepares this Report on how prepared is each country for accession. The conclusion differs, because each report says: "these are the progresses and this is what remains to be done, and these are the sectors where you really have to push, to do more.
In Romania, these sectors were justice reform, competition and the environment. That is why the country has a tougher safeguard clause regarding these fields.
On the other hand, the safeguard clause was a little bit like the nuclear bomb - you put it there in order not to use it, in order to have a deterrent effect.
In my opinion, the main merit of the safeguard clause is to make the work done without being used. At least so far as Romania is concerned, it has worked, especially in the field of judiciary reform - which is an extremely tedious and long-lasting work - the progress has been impressive in the last ten months.
Q: Do you plan any specific steps in terms to make the EU Accession Treaty of Romania {and Bulgaria} more readable?
A: I know that the government has such plans, but again we have to realize that there are different target groups to address. The Treaty is one for all, but not everything concerns everybody. Unless this difference is made, people will be overwhelmed with information and run away from listening what it actually says.
The job of explaining the Treaty should start with identifying how each part of it which target group it concerns and then putting it into the language that target group uses. It's a tough job and I hope the government would go through it.
Q: Would you assess as efficient the work of Romanian parliament in their efforts for EU accession at the background of the recent political instability?
A: We haven't identified any significant delay related to the internal political debate in the country. If we talk more generally about the efficiency of the parliament in adopting EU legislation, I'd say that still they were efficient, because 99% of the EU acquis communautaire is adopted and the other 1% is more or less being negotiated.
What is more concerning about the European Union is not the legislative harmonization, but the law implementation. The law is useless if it remains only on paper. This is the area where Romania will have a lot of things to do. And I guess Bulgaria is the same.
I should add that the European Commission is aware of the fact that not everything could be done by the accession date - for example the justice reform would take another four-five years. What the EC expects is that Romania is on the right track towards finalization of the reform.
Q: Romania has recently adopted a package of reforms in the judiciary field. Is this the field requiring largest attention and, as such, likely to be most harshly criticised?
A: It was definitely a necessary step - strongly encouraged not only by the European Commission, but also anticipated by the people in Romania. Romanians want their justice system well functioning for their own benefit.
Q: Fifteen months ahead of the planned full-fledged membership of Romania do you find the public opinion in the country changed towards the EU? Are ordinary people now more aware of the advantages and the difficulties the country will face once being a EU member?
A: The latest research we conducted was on how people felt about the accession in their lives, how Romanians felt about the other Europeans as far as fundamental values are concerned - political, social, human. The results showed that in the political field Romanians think that the same values are being applied in the country and in the EU. However, as individuals they feel they are not treated right. And they expect accession to change this reality.
In a way this is a credit given to Brussels who would not allow, for instance, that justice reforms fails.
With accession date coming nearer, we identified a tendency for the public support going down, which I think is very healthy, because it shows people get more facts and get more critical.
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