EU to approve Balkan candidates (Bulgaria and Romania)

[muriel_volestrangler]

It is expected that Bucharest and Sofia will be told they can join on 1 January 2007 - but under strict conditions.

They will be checked for progress in curbing organised crime, controlling animal disease and instituting procedures for administering farm aid.
...
The commission's report, seen by the BBC, should finally confirm that after seven years of talks, Bulgaria and Romania are able to take on the rights and obligations of EU membership next January.
...
In an announcement to be made in the European Parliament, the 2007 date is expected to be chosen instead of a 2008 alternative.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/5380024.stm

A big step, and the difference in GDP between the new countries and the EU may have interesting effects on migration - the EU countries are getting policies on restricting immigration from the 2 countries in line (which most did when the 10 joined in 2004, but the UK, notably, didn't - it's still a controversial point here, and the government is going to use some restrictions, this time, although it's thought Romanians and Bulgarians are far more likely to head for southern EU states).

[nealmhughes]

1. Bulgaria is getting ready for the Euro right now!

The Bulgarians have a very nice little country: some ethnic division over Muslims and the Roma, but for the Orthodox Slavs, it is a rather pleasant place: lots of agriculture, actually a booming ag economy, and they are trying hard to get into the greater Euro-tourism industry, to set up more "modern" that is to say, more "old fashioned" Black Sea resorts than the old Soviet Era mega-summer spots.

When the Romanians entered Bulgaria during one of the Balkan Wars before WWI, the Romanian soldiers wanted to desert and live in Bulgaria because the peasants had such a bounty in comparison to themselves...

Congrats to both!