Bulgaria and Romania told to speed up reforms Daniel Dombey in London Bulgaria and Romania have been warned they must accelerate reforms or see their admission to the EU delayed by a year.
The issue will be decided at June meetings of EU foreign ministers and leaders. But privately EU diplomats say they expect the 25 governments to agree to the two countries' entry on January 1 2007 as scheduled, despite problems with their judicial systems, border security and food safety. The next big test will come on May 16, when Olli Rehn, EU enlargement Commissioner, issues the Commission's verdict on whether the countries' entry should be delayed. Before then, he will visit both countries to deliver a final warning. In October last year, Mr Rehn said the fight against corruption and food safety were "red flags" where both countries needed to act decisively or risk missing their scheduled entry date. After a prolonged period in which Romania was widely perceived as the laggard of the two, EU officials judged that Bulgaria's reforms had lost momentum. The criteria for delaying the two countries' entry remain extremely tough. Under the terms of the accession treaties, the vast majority of EU member states would have to agree to postpone Romania's membership, while all EU governments would have to agree to delay Bulgaria. EU diplomats say that the atmosphere has changed since last year, when No votes in French and Dutch referendums on the proposed EU constitution seemed to jeopardise Bulgaria and Romania's entry bids. Already 11 out of the EU's 25 member states have ratified the treaty to admit Bulgaria and Romania. All 25 EU states need to complete the ratification process by December 31 for the treaty to come into force. EU diplomats doubt that national governments will fail to implement a policy that they have all agreed. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006 "FT" and the "Financial Times" are trademarks of The Financial Times. -- ______________ EuroAtlantic Club monitoring Romania's journey towards the EU http://www.europe.org.ro/euroatlantic_club/ mail to: P.O.Box 13-166, Bucharest 70700 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/ <*> 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/
