24.11.2006 EU - Green Light for Bulgaria to Join in January 2007

The European Commission (EC) has invited Bulgaria to take on rights as a full fledged member on 1 January 2007 (Romania was also accepted). “They deserve a warm welcome”, Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said presenting the monitoring report on Tuesday.
Bulgaria missed out on the first enlargement wave in 2004, but this time the predominant opinion was that we are prepared. The readiness of Bulgaria is a direct result from numerous measures that were taken in order to meet the requirements for membership. The people and authorities made huge efforts so they could become a part of the process of enlargement.
In May 2006 the Commission considered that "Bulgaria should be prepared for EU membership on 1 January 2007. Since then the country has addressed many of the challenges. This has put it into line with prevailing standards and practices within the Union. Bulgaria has carried out an extraordinary reform process and they have gone through a remarkable transformation. Further improvement will be achieved with the help of a mechanism of cooperation and monitoring on the continuous progress achieved by the state, particularly in areas of judiciary reform, fight against corruption and organised crime.
But nobody should make the mistake of thinking that accession means all the country's problems would be solved. It is maybe true that "This is the genuine and final fall of the Berlin Wall for Bulgaria," as Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev said but yet there are a number of areas where further progress is needed. Thus Bulgaria will have to report regularly to the Commission on what further measures are taken.

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