EU to approve Balkan candidates
By Jerome Hart,WNS EU Correspondent
STRASBOURG - The European Commission was to invite Bulgaria and Romania to join the European Union in January, amid warnings the bloc must tackle institutional reforms before further expansion. The 26th and 27th members of the European club will be allowed to join up on January 1, 2007, but will be subject to the heaviest monitoring of any newcomers, said EU diplomats who have seen the commission's draft reports.
But on the eve of the announcement at a European Parliament session here, Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said further enlargement should be frozen until EU member states decide on reforms to streamline decision-making. "It would be inadvisable to have any more member states in the union, apart from Romania and Bulgaria, before sorting out the institutional question," Barroso said.
Amid weakening support in some EU states for further enlargement and fears of a flood of new job-seeking migrants from Bulgaria and Romania, the bloc will impose its most stringent supervision yet on the new members. According to the draft report circulating in Brussels, but still subject to last-minute alterations, the Commission finds that Bulgaria and Romania have reached "a high degree of alignment" in their preparations for membership.
posted by wnsworld @ 11:20 AM
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