It’s well known France is one of Romania’s biggest supporters regarding the country’s EU accession. Well, we should know by now that everything has a price, including the love France showed us lately.

French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin arrived in Romania yesterday for a two-day visit. Next to the adoptions issues to be discussed, he is here to sign three contracts worth more than 900 million euros (US$ 1.1 billion).

We’re talking about the €60M Alcatel contract with the Romanian Railways company and the €480M Vinci contract for the construction of a 37-kilometre (23-mile) section of motorway between Bucharest and Brasov.

And last but not least (and this is the one that I love most) is the “privatisation” of Romanian natural gas distributor Distrigaz Sud, that was sold to the state owned (sic) Gas de France for €150 million for a 30% stake in Distrigaz Sud. The French company will increase its stake in Romanian gas distributor to 51% after the acquisition. It was estimated that up to €400 million will be invested in Distrigaz after the sell-off.