EU invites Bulgaria and Romania to sign in April

Romania and Bulgaria are on track to signing accession treaties
with the EU in April 2005 – with strings attached. Croatia,
meanwhile, has failed to receive an unconditional date for entry
talks.

In the shadow of the summit debate on Turkey’s accession
prospects, the participants in the EU summit gave their blessing to
plans for Bulgaria and Romania to sign their accession treaties in
April 2005, and for Croatia to open entry talks early next year.
Earlier, the European Parliament also supported the plans.

Concluding the EU summit’s rather muted discussion of the
candidacies of the three Balkan states, the final communiqué said
that the EU would make the start of talks with Croatia conditional
on Zagreb’s full co-operation with the International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Croatia had originally
wanted an unconditional date for entry talks.

Bulgaria and Romania had both agreed to unprecedented ‘safeguard
clauses’ under which their EU entry could be delayed to 2008 if
they failed to implement agreed reforms. 

Earlier, on 16 December, the European Parliament adopted
non-binding resolutions on the three countries. 

Regarding Romania, the MEPs expressed their “hope and belief”
that the country would be able to join the EU as scheduled in
January 2007. While the country fulfils the political and economic
criteria associated with accession, it still has important efforts
to make, the resolution said. Among others, corruption –
“especially high-level corruption – remains a serious worry”.
Furthermore, Romania should continue with its reforms of the social
security and welfare system, and further improvements are needed in
the fields of environment, state aid and justice and home
affairs.

Bulgaria is seen by both the Council and the EP to be on track
to EU membership on 1 January 2007. No major obstacle has been
identified to the planned signing of the Accession Treaty in the
first half of 2005, despite the fact that the MEPs have
called for greater efforts to fight organised crime, corruption and
trafficking in human beings. 

In both Romania and Bulgaria, poverty has also been identified
as an issue requiring special attention.

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