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From: Michael Badea <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Mar 2, 2006 2:08 AM
Subject: [EU_competitions] va semnalez acest art pt ca e relevant pt noi toti ...
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Bulgaria to hire consultants to secure 2007 accession
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Bulgaria is hiring consultants to identify parliamentarians and opinion-makers in member states where ratification of its EU accession treaty is seen as problematic, signalling nervousness about a possible delay of its EU membership.
The Bulgarian Public Procurement Agency has closed a public tender for a €100,000 consultancy job targeting at least four member states – Germany, France, the Netherlands and Denmark - where it fears a "possible delay of ratification."
Sofia appears nervous that national parliamentarians in the four countries will be influenced by a key report by the European Commission, due in May, which might recommend a delay of Bulgaria and Romania's scheduled accession in 2007 by one year.
The tender speaks of "a possible delay of the ratification procedure of the Bulgarian accession treaty in some member states, particularly by the link established between the ratification procedure and the European Commission's monitoring report."
A negative or critical report by the commission could cause national MPs to postpone ratification, which is necessary in all EU member states for the accession treaty to enter into force.
As part of a last-minute Bulgarian PR offensive, a consultancy firm should now identify key opinion and decision-makers in the four states and devise strategies to convince them that the 2007 entry date should be upheld and ratification accelerated.
Speed up ratification
The tender, first picked up by Bulgarian news-portal Europe.bg, lists three aims of the job.
First, "To avoid the application of the delay clause postponing the membership of Bulgaria with one year from 2007 to 2008."
Second, "To speed up the process of ratification before the final review of preparedness for membership [the May commission report]."
Third, "To increase support for Bulgarian membership in 2007 in key countries such as France, Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark."
The winning consultancy firm is set to be made public by mid-March.
Little enthusiasm
The French, German and Danish parliaments are to deal with ratification of Bulgarian and Romanian EU membership only after publication of the commission report, sources confirmed.
The Dutch senate is also considering this option. The Dutch lower house already ratified the accession treaties in February - despite the country's largest Christian Democrat party voting against Romanian accession in 2007.
Meanwhile, Romania appears to share Bulgaria's uneasiness with the slow pace of ratification, with Bucharest's foreign affairs minister Mihai Razvan Ungureanu recently expressing disappointment about France.
"To be honest, I expected a lot more enthusiasm from France," he said in February according to Bucharest daily news.
Real risk of delay?
However, Brussels insiders and national parliament sources generally see no risk of a delay of ratification, even if parliamentarians are awaiting the commission report.
To soothe sceptics' fears that Bulgaria and Romania are insufficiently prepared for EU entry, the commission report may contain one or more so-called safeguard clauses.
These clauses provide for an exclusion of either countries from participation in specific EU policy areas - primarily justice and home affairs and parts of the internal market - even if they become member states in 2007.
But despite the unlikelihood of delay "Bulgaria wants to be on the safe side," said Marin Lessenski, an analyst at the Institute for Regional and International Studies (IRIS).
Enlargement fatigue
A Bulgarian diplomat said the lobby offensive was "nothing extraordinary," but also pointed to concern about the "enlargement fatigue" currently characterising EU public opinion.
"Bulgaria is not such a well known country," the diplomat added.
European diplomats told EUobserver last month that public opinion will be "a factor" for both France and the Netherlands in handling the option of a delay for Bulgarian and Romanian accession, despite the official line that timing depends purely on meeting EU standards.
French and Dutch citizens' uneasiness over enlargement is widely seen as a contributing factor to why they rejected the EU constitution in referendums early last year.
© 2006 EUobserver, All rights reserved
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22-02-2006
THE AIMS OF THE PUBLIC PROCUREMENT OF THE FOREIGN MINISTRY, CONNECTED TO THE EU MEMBERSHIP |
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Portal EUROPE received from a source on February 21 the documentation of the public procurement procedure for "Submitting consultancy and intermediation services, connected to speeding up the process of adhesion of Bulgaria to the EU on January 1, 2007".
The application deadline expired on February 18, 2006. (see the direct link to the Public Procurement Agency, http://www.aop.bg/case.php?mode=show_case&case_id=40233)
As Portal EUROPE announced on February 7, the Foreign Ministry decided to offer EUR 100,000 to consultants because of "a possible delay in the ratification procedure" of the Treaty for adhesion of Bulgaria to the EU.
Motivated by the high degree of public interest into this matter, Portal EUROPE demanded on February 15 from the Foreign Ministry, the full description of the procurement's object, the technical task and the requirements for the candidates. The Ministry's press-office expressed readiness to cooperate, but so far the Europe.bg Team has not received official information from the Ministry concerning our request.
Portal EUROPE started an initiative for monitoring the process of ratification in the national parliaments of the EU member states of the Treaty for adhesion of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU. Within the framework of this initiative, Portal EUROPE decided to reveal to its readers the content of the document, received by our source.
Point 3 of the document reads, "Detailed description of the procurement's object". It is about submitting "consultancy and intermediation services, connected to speeding up the process of adhesion of Bulgaria to the EU on January 1, 2007".
According to the document, the aim of the contract, which will be signed with the winner-candidate, is:
"1. Preventing the adoption of the safeguard close… with which the set date for the real membership will be postponed from 2007 to 2008.
2. Speeding up the process of ratification before the end of the monitoring of the membership readiness.
3. Increasing the support for the adhesion of Bulgaria to the EU in 2007 in key countries, namely: Germany, France, the Netherlands, Denmark."
According to the document, the object of the procurement includes carrying out the below-listed activities:
"- Analysis of the basic reasons for postponing the membership date;
- Evaluation and categorization of the relevant important figures in the EU according to the role that they play in sticking to the originally membership date;
- Research and analysis of the possibilities and threats with respect to the key member - states;
- Determination and analysis of the key figures, who have influence, and those who are opinion makers in the relevant countries, concerning the adhesion of Bulgaria to the EU;
- Creating a database with contacts, that could be used by the contracting authority, of the basic people and institutions, influencing on the public opinion and opinion makers about the European membership of Bulgaria;
- Developing a strategy and tactics for each specific goal – concrete people, concrete action, that should be undertaken, message, that should be conveyed, expected result;
- Analysis of the whole process of research and assisting the contracting authority in the preparation of a common strategy, which will focus on the elimination of the negative reasons /for postponement of the membership/ and in the same time underlining and strengthening the positive reasons /because of which the membership date should be kept/."
The document also says that the contract's duration will be from the moment of its signature to the end of October 2006.
The arguments of the contracting authority (the Foreign Ministry) for opening a fast public procurement procedure of this kind is, "... emerging problems and possible postponement in the ratification procedure of the Treaty (...) in part of the European states and, in particular, relating it to the results of the monitoring report of the European commission."
The Ministry explains that it is not possible to specify "explicitly enough" the technical specifications of the public procurement, because of the "difficulties in the thorough determination of the people, whose collaboration should be sought for increasing the support in each /European/ state".
The document reveals that the contracting authority does not demand from the candidates as a requirement specific profession, neither are they obliged to specify the names and professional qualification of their staff that will be involved in working under the contract. The key criterion for selection of the offers will be their economic relevance, the documents also read.
The procedure documentation is approved by Ivaylo Kalfin, vice-premier and foreign minister of Bulgaria, on February 3, 2006.
On February 18, 2006, Minister Kalfin told Darik radio that for the moment "we have no reasons to worry" that, because of procedure reasons, any of the member-states will not be able to complete the ratification process before the end of the year.
On January 27, 2006, Prime Minister Stanishev said he believes that the process of ratification will be completed until the end of the year.
Portal EUROPE expresses readiness to publish all comments and official stands, connected to the ratification process.
| (Portal EUROPE) |
Michael Badea
Desk Officer for Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece and the Council of Europe /
Chargé de dossier pour la Roumanie, la Bulgarie, Chypre, la Grèce et le Conseil de l'Europe
Central Europe and Eastern Mediterranean Division /
Direction de l'Europe centrale et de la Méditerranée orientale (REC)
Foreign Affairs Canada / Affaires étrangères Canada
Tel./Tél. : (613) 943-4562 / Fax/Téléc. : (613) 995-8756
E-mail / Courriel : [EMAIL PROTECTED]--
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