Romania and Bulgaria to join EU Nicholas Watt, European editor, in Strasbourg Tuesday September 26, 2006 Guardian Unlimited
The final stage in the EU's historic "big bang" enlargement of 2004 was completed today when the European commission announced that Romania and Bulgaria would be allowed to join on January 1 next year. Jose Manuel Barroso, the commission president, told the European parliament in Strasbourg that the two countries had made sufficient progress to avoid any further delay to their membership. The announcement closes the final chapter on the 2004 enlargement of the EU when eight former Warsaw Pact countries - plus Malta and Cyprus - joined. Today's announcement means that every Warsaw Pact country outside the former Soviet Union - bar Albania - will be a member the EU by January 1 2007. So far only three former Soviet republics - the Baltic States of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia - have been allowed in. "This is the genuine and final fall of the Berlin wall for Bulgaria," the Bulgarian prime minister, Sergei Stanishev, declared in Sofia. The EU delayed Romania and Bulgaria's EU membership by nearly three years amid deep concerns about their failure to crack down on organised crime and corruption - and fears about their criminal justice systems. Such fears were highlighted today when the commission announced that it would impose a series of restrictions on both countries, with the toughest penalties falling on Bulgaria. In a "monitoring report" on the progress made by the two countries, the commission expresses particular unease about Bulgaria. "Contract killings of persons rarely result in successful investigations and prosecutions," it says. "Ilegal possession of firearms remains a problem. The number of cases prosecuted successfully related to trafficking of human beings, drug smuggling, money laundering, counterfeiting of goods, currency and documents is still low. "Organised crime continues to be a problem ... Overall, certain mechanisms have been put in place which should facilitate the fight against organised crime. However, there are insufficient tangible results in investigating and prosecuting organised crime cases." Romania is criticised, though less harshly. "A consistent interpretation and application of the law at all levels of courts throughout the country has not been fully ensured," the report says. "Romania has continued to make progress in fighting corruption ... There needs to be a clear political willingness of all political actors to demonstrate the sustainability and irreversibility of the recent positive progress in the fight against corruption." The commission is so concerned by the slow progress of reform that it has set Romania and Bulgaria a set of benchmarks - with a demand for a first report by the end of March next year. Bulgaria will have to prove in its report that it has removed "any ambiguity regarding the independence and accountability of the judicial system" and conduct "professional, non-partisan investigations into allegations of high-level corruption". Romania faces less strict benchmarks, which include more transparency in its judicial system. If either country fails, it will be excluded from EU business in the areas covered by the benchmarks. Today's commission report, which will now go to EU foreign ministers, who have the final say, is mainly focused on crime and the judiciary, but other areas of concern are highlighted. Both countries are warned that they could see cuts in valuable agricultural payments unless they improve their payment systems. But Bulgaria is given a particularly strong warning that its planes will be banned from EU airspace unless it improves safety. "Non- complying Bulgarian carriers may be added to the EU list of banned carriers," the report says. The strong criticisms in today's report will strengthen the hand of critics who say that Romania and Bulgaria are not ready to join the EU. But the commission will argue that allowing them to join in January - given that its only sanction is a year long delay until 2008 - is the best way of encouraging reform. A delay would, the commission believes, be a gift to EU critics in Romania and Bulgaria. The guarded commission report comes amid a growing sense across the EU of what is being dubbed "enlargement fatigue". Mr Barroso set down a significant marker on Monday when he said that the EU cannot expand any further - once Romania and Bulgaria have joined - until it works out what to with the comatose EU constitution. The EU's rules are currently covered by the Nice treaty, which sets a cap on the number of members at 27. This will be reached in January. Croatia, which is next in line to join, will now have to wait until the EU decides what to do with its constitution. -- ______________ EuroAtlantic Club monitoring Romania's journey towards the EU http://www.europe.org.ro/euroatlantic_club/ mail to: P.O.Box 13-166, Bucharest 011737 e-mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** sustineti [romania_eu_list] prin 2% din impozitul pe 2005 - detalii la http://www.doilasuta.ro *** Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/romania_eu_list/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/romania_eu_list/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
