Bulgaria and Romania get EU entry nod

The European Parliament gave a green light yesterday for Bulgaria and Romania to join the European Union.

This removed the last obstacle for the Balkan countries to sign the accession treaty on April 25.

The vote cleared the way for the second wave of the European Union's enlargement into the former communist eastern Europe after 10 countries joined the bloc last May.

Bulgaria and Romania will now join the European Union on January 1, 2007 if they implement agreed political and economic reforms, increasing the number of EU members to 27.

Their entry may be delayed until 2008 if they drag their feet in implementing reforms on fighting rampant corruption, strengthening their administration systems, beefing up border controls and introducing competition policy measures.

The assembly voted 522-70 with 69 abstentions to back Bulgaria's accession. It backed Romania's entry in a 497-93 vote with 71 abstentions.

Romania, with a population of 22 million, is seen as worse prepared for EU membership and more corrupt than Bulgaria, which has 8 million citizens.

Parliament rejected motions of some minority groups to delay the votes until after the executive European Commission publishes a report in November on how the countries are preparing themselves for membership.

This report is expected to determine if Bulgaria and Romania should join in 2007 or 2008.

Some deputies said that quarrels in parliament over the issue could harm the French Government's efforts to secure "yes" to the EU's constitution in a referendum on May 29.

The French public, already lukewarm about the European Union's previous enlargement, may reject the constitution, public opinion polls show, threatening to throw the bloc into a political disarray.

"It seems to me that at a time when the French are debating on the constitutional treaty the signal given should not be one of scepticism about enlargement," said Pierre Moscovici, a former French minister for Europe, now a socialist deputy.

Many parliamentarians are unhappy that once they cleared the accession treaty they will have no say at all on whether Sofia and Bucharest should join in 2007 or 2008, leaving all important decisions to the executive European Commission and EU states.