Romania is determined to join the E.U. on schedule on January 1, 2007, said Foreign Minister Mihai Razvan Ungureanu in an Austrian TV interview overnight Friday. He gave an assurance that his country would continue with the necessary reforms, and its fight against crime and corruption, according to DPA. In the justice reform, the Romanian government was particularly interested in achieving a partition between the political and juridical areas. How well this succeeded would be a test for the government in the parliament. Ungureanu said his country did not want to fight corruption by the "Jacobin method" - a rolling of heads - but in "an intelligent and European way", by removing its roots. The foreign minister said that the E.U., in accepting Romania, would be "investing in its own future". It needed a country on its borders which could defend the Union, but also cultivate contacts with its neighbours. Also, Romania would contribute cheap and well trained workers to the E.U. as "new blood". Ungureanu conceded that the people in his country had not really noticed any economic boom. But future prospects were good, and there were many foreign investors. Austrian involvement in Romania was "a success story", he said.
