BULGARIA: European Union officials praise Bulgaria's preparations prior to its EU membership next year

European Union commission president, Jose Manuel Barroso and enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn visited Sofia on Wednesday (September 27) to celebrate Bulgaria's planned EU entry next year and to honour the hard work involved in achieving preparation for membership. But the delegation warned that things were not perfect and urged the nation to push on with reform. EU's executive Commission gave Bulgaria and its Black Sea neighbour Romania the green light on Tuesday (September 26) to join the wealthy bloc on January 1, waiving a potential one-year delay. But it imposed the toughest entry conditions on any EU newcomers to date and said it could deny them full membership benefits or strip them of some of the billions of euros in aid they are due unless they continued with reforms. During Wednesday's news conference Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev, said that the required reforms were for Bulgaria's own good. "We are doing all these reforms not because somebody from the European Union wants us to do it, but because they are necessary and useful for Bulgarian society in the first place. Because the reforms make our country tidier, more effective and successful economically and socially," Stanishev said. In particular, the EU says Bulgaria must improve its lumbering judiciary and crack down on graft and organised criminal groups who diplomats say have taken over major parts of Bulgaria's economy. It must also amend its constitution to remove ambiguity about judicial independence and accountability and prove it can jail corrupt top-level officials and crime bosses. Romania on the other hand must strengthen its top court and establish an agency to identify the assets of senior officials. Both countries need to finish setting up agencies to disburse EU farm and development funds. However Barroso said he believed Bulgaria had proven that they deserved the EU membership. "During the last few months, you have demonstrated your readiness for European Union membership, with a lot of hard work. I really believe that your accession to the European Union is well-deserved and I'm very confident that Bulgaria will be a constructive member of our European Union," Barroso said. The membership of the two Balkan countries will swell the EU to include 27 member states, and add around 30 million people to its current population of more than 450 million. "I believe the European Union has given by far, the most important contribution to democratisation in the world," Barroso said. But the two new member states will not enjoy the same benefits that other eastern european EU members have. The bloc can impose sanctions, which could exclude the newcomers from policies such as open borders and common markets, for up to three years after entry. "The Commission has decided to adopt certain accompanying measures to ensure continuity and irreversibility of the reforms in Bulgaria. There are also safeguards which are based on the Accession Treaty and they should be seen as an incentive. I hope they won't have to be used but that in the first place, depends on Bulgaria and Bulgaria's actions in the coming months and coming years, " EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said.

ITN Source | September 27, 2006

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