Romania is “on schedule” regarding the accession process to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and now we are in the phase where the hearings have already begun, said the national coordinator for Romania’s accession to the OECD, Luca Niculescu.
“We are on schedule (with accession – n.r.) to give the shortest answer, because we started in 2022. We are evaluated (…) by 26 committees that cover practically everything we can imagine in economic, social life from Romania. There is one area that the OECD does not deal with: security. We have another organization that does its job well, although some of the companies there are included in some of these committees that evaluate us. In June 2022, the OECD sent us a roadmap with the milestones to be met. We responded immediately, that is, a few months later, with an initial memorandum, which means a 1,000-page document at who worked in almost all the institutions in Romania where we said how we estimate that we align ourselves with OECD practices, procedures, standards and immediately after this document that we submitted on December 15, 2022, a lot of questions started coming from those 26 of committees. And I calculated that we have received over 10,000 questions so far, hundreds of questionnaires. I have so far received 36 evaluation missions from these committees and many hearings after that and in Paris. We are now in the phase where we have almost finished the evaluation missions and the hearings have already started, sometimes final hearings in Paris in front of these committees,” said Luca Niculescu, quoted by Agerpres.
He stated that Romania applied to join the OECD in 2004, when Adrian Năstase was prime minister.
According to him, after the final hearings within the respective committees, they issue a formal opinion, a formal opinion. After the 26 approvals are obtained, a political decision is needed by the ambassadors of the 38 states who decide whether a state can join.
Luca Niculescu referred to an interview given by the ambassador of the United States of America to Romania to the local media in which she stated that Romania is the most advanced of the seven OECD candidate countries.
He also stated that there is a target set by the prime minister for Romania to become a member of the organization in 2026.
Asked about possible risks, Luca Niculescu stated that the biggest risk would be “not keeping the good pace we are in now” and missing the 2026 target.