023 billion within the framework of Phare, ISPA and SAPARD and further 2.793 billion in the period from 2004 to 2006 inclusively. To what extent, however, these resources are going to be managed accordingly and employed effectively by the Romanian government, remains to be seen. Because the last report of the European Parliament on the status of the accession negotiations established that the fight against corruption required a special attention.
And it is precisely on this old, apparently never healing wound that US Ambassador Michael Guest and the chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham), Obie Moore have placed their finger upon. At an international donor conference on April 15/16, 2003 held in Bucharest on Investment against Corruption", organized by the Romanian Ministry of Justice, they have addressed the issue of corruption in Ro-mania in a remarkably open manner. .
Ambassador Guest may have underlined in his address, that there was evidence of un-mistakable progress in the fight against corruption over the last two years and that the present government, more than any previous government, has undertaken great efforts in order to tighten up the according legislation and strengthen institutions. However, the Ambassador maintained, time is running out". That's why he urged the govern-ment, the opposition and the mass-media to fight corruption together, because if they failed to do so, corruption will win and this country risks to be forced to declare its moral bankruptcy". He acknowledged that he was aware of the intricate relationship between the difficult economic situation and corruption as well as the reason why businessmen with insider-connections didn't want a new, tighter law against corrup-tion. The USA would continue to support Romania in its fight against corruption, but in the end it was up to the country itself to make the required decisions. "Bridge the gap between different political opinions for a positive change.
