The Romanian government on Wednesday finalized its anti-corruption plan, a key move for winning its EU membership.

The plan, which was submitted to the European Union (EU) on Wednesday, came only a day earlier than the March 31 deadline set by the bloc after Romania closed its accession talks three months ago.

The two-year action plan contains strict deadlines for adoptinganti-corruption laws and for promoting the efficiency and transparency of the judiciary.

"Those who fail to observe the deadlines will have to face the consequences," Prime Minister Calin Popescu-Tariceanu told reporters.

Under the plan, the government will draft a new legislation on granting state contracts and regulating the allocation of state advertising by June, and the existing legislation on funding political parties will be reviewed by December.

Laws will be amended by September this year to ensure the independence of prosecutors assigned to cases with objective criteria, while the number of the graft-fighting bodies will be reduced by March 2006.

Romania missed the EU's first enlargement wave last May and was criticized for wide-spread corruption. The new government, which won the elections last November, vowed to make a difference by an effective fight against corruption.

Source: Xinhua