Ladies and Gentlemen

It is a great pleasure to address this conference. It is being held at a time of historic importance for the European Union and with the prospect - strongly supported by Great Britain, of Romanian entry in 2007.

On Monday I was in Strasbourg speaking at a conference on "The Dimensions of the New Europe". We discussed the economic significance of EU expansion, its political importance and its cultural implications. But we also quite simply celebrated the fact of EU Enlargement. On May 1st this year Cyprus the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, The Slovak Republic and Slovenia joined Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom to create a European Union of 25 countries - an unprecedented coming together of Europe. When Romania and Bulgaria join the European Union will have doubled in size in less than 40 years. Its population will have increased by more than two thirds and all this will have been achieved by free-peoples. The transformation of Europe is thus not only quantitative but qualitative. Nothing has ever happened like this before in European history. Empires have risen and fallen by force. This is a new union of Europe freely entered into by peoples so often divided in history.

The conference of which I have spoken celebrated this enlargement in Strasbourg because that is where the process of European integration began after the Second World War. From 1870 to 1945 Alsace was fought over many times by France and Germany. In one year alone, the terrible year of 1915, more than 30,000 French soldiers died seeking to re-take the land seized by Germany in 1870. Wonderfully, after the Second World War, Strasbourg and Alsace developed a new identity, with Strasbourg again part of France but now also a European capital, home to important European institutions including the European Parliament, the Council of Europe and the European Court of Justice.

It is important never to forget the scale of this European achievement and particularly now when Europe is widening to embrace countries for so long under Soviet domination. None of the divisions experienced by Europe have been more painful or involved greater danger than the Iron Curtain. But the Iron Curtain has gone. The Berlin Wall fell and now we have the chance to build a new Europe. This new Europe can never be complete without Romania and like many others I am impatient for 2007.

This is not to underestimate in any way the nature of the challenge we face. The Economist Intelligence Unit last year produced a statistical estimate of how long it would take the new member states including Romania to match the average GDP per head of the Europe of 15. Under what they termed a "benign scenario" they calculated that it might take Romania 80 years and others almost as long. Such statistics can be misleading because they make assumptions on economic growth - already superceded by Romania's actual performance but also because they look only at macro economic data.

The true strength, potential and resilience of a country turns on the human factor. I first visited Bucharest in 1995 and what struck me at once was the talent and vitality of Romania's young people. I was attending the opening of the English Speaking Union of Romania, at that time as the ESU's Deputy Chairman. I remember being told by the organizers in Romania that they were eager that young Romanians participated at once in the International Public Speaking Competitions run by the English Speaking Union. I advised some caution. I was quite wrong. Young Romanians at once started to win prizes and in fact have three times taken the top awards in an International competition which tests not only linguistic ability but rhetorical skill and political insight. Romanian musicians have demonstrated the same brilliance. Romania has many assets, economic, scenic and cultural but its chief asset is undoubtedly the talent and motivation of its young people.

In realizing the potential of Romania, the United Kingdom has more to offer than inward investment important though this is. This conference is focused on investment opportunities and rightly so. We in the United Kingdom would be foolish to ignore the opportunities provided by the fastest growing economy in Central Europe achieving real GDP growth of 4.9% in the last two years.

However we also offer our investment in the English language in Romania providing for that country a bridge and a key to realizing Romanian potential. All of you as business people know the importance of reliable mutual understanding and Romania's growing ability in the English language is therefore a major business asset both for Romania and for the United Kingdom. In Romania itself nearly 2 million school children are now learning English taught by over 11,500 dedicated teachers. I am glad to be able to announce that during 2005 the English Speaking Union, at the invitation of the Romanian Ministry of Education, will be holding a major conference in Bucharest examining the challenges and achievements of English language learning in Central Europe with Romania as a prime example.

All this speaks to what I would call the "Communicative Energy of Romania". Three illustrations suffice. Like all new and potential members of the European Union Romania faces significant infra-structure challenges. Dealing with these can involve major investments of capital but what is also required is the ability to use the very latest technologies to leap the infra-structure backlog. A good example is telephony. Fixed telephony was controlled and sterile within the Communist structure. But mobile telephony - itself a quintessential expression of a pluralistic and free society has leapt forward. Last year Romania registered seven million, three hundred and fifty thousand subscribers for mobiles surpassing fixed telephony. Commex alone achieved four million customers.

Advertising, another vibrant index of a consumer focused economy has also made great progress. There are now no less than 25 major agencies in Romania demonstrating great creativity and consumer impact and I am glad that the WPP Group of which my own company, Burson Marsteller, is a part is well represented.

Cable television is another key index. Back in 1993 there were eight hundred thousand subscribers to Cable television in Romania. Today there are nearly four million.

The realization of economic potential by new member states within the European Union requires success in two key areas. A new member state must adhere to the Copenhagen criteria which set the standards for a civil society within the European Union. These specify that the new state must have stable institutions "guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for a protection of minorities, a functioning marketing economy as well as the capacity to cope with competitive pressure and market forces within the European Union and the ability to take on the obligations of membership including adherence to the aims of political, economic and monetary union". The other is to adopt the 32 chapters of the Acquis Comunitaire.

From my own direct experience I can testify to the determination of Romania to meet the Copenhagen criteria and adhere to the Acquis Comunitaire. I was for a number of years involved in the difficult area of ensuring that the care of orphan children and the prospects for adoption allowed in Romania met the criteria of a civil society. This was a painful and challenging process in which Romania had to confront a distasteful inheritance from the Communist era. I can testify to the clarity and consistency with which free Romanian governments have addressed and resolved this challenge although much remains to be done.

I can also testify to the vigour with which the Romanian authorities have addressed the Acquis Comunitaire. The thirty chapters covering all the accumulative legislation with the European Union from the free movement of goods to social policy and employment, from consumer and health protection to financial and budgetary provisions are the inescapable and irreplaceable template for European integration. Incidentally the European Commission is always thorough. In case they left anything out of the thirty chapters they have added chapter 31 entitled "other". I am absolutely confident of Romania's ability to meet the requirements of all these chapters.

In short, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have great confidence in Romania's future as a member of the European Union. Romania has always belonged to Europe. Indeed its culture and history makes it part of the very foundation of Europe. I look forward to 2007 and I urge companies at today's conference not to wait until then.