Once it joins the European Union, Romania will have to import fewer clothes, shoes and other products from China as the EU has established thresholds on Chinese imports - and Romania will have to comply with the European rules.

“The European Union has negotiated set quotas for certain types of textiles from China. Romania and Bulgaria will have to fall in line with these limits”, Leonard Orban, a state secretary at the European Integration Ministry in Bucharest, has told HotNews.ro.

But he says the accession of the two countries will not lead to an increase of the EU quotas. “It’s most probable that despite the EU market will expand with two new countries, the European Commission would not approve an increase of the quotas”, he said.

The EU has imposed these thresholds to protect itself from China’s aggressive policy when it comes to textile, shoes and clothes exports. The EU made the decision as the Chinese government has refused to drop the state subsidies for exporters.

Maria Grapini, the head of FEPAIUS, an employers’ union in this industry branch, has told HotNews.ro that for now Romania is invaded by goods of Chinese origin and that the threshold would make life easier for domestic producers. Maria Grapini

A GfK study shows that most Romanians are ready to buy Romanian-made clothes and shoes to support the domestic industry. But a short trip to Europa, a commercial complex on the outskirts of Bucharest, may argue otherwise:thousands of Chinese people sell their goods at the cheapest prices there, with much success among the poor living in Bucharest neighborhoods and villages in the proximity.