27/04/2006
Bulgaria and Romania must not fall victim to right-wing anti-enlargement backlash
27 April 2006
PES President Poul Nyrup Rasmussen today made a strong appeal in the European Parliament for Bulgaria as well as Romania to be admitted to the European Union in 2007.
Poul Nyrup Rasmussen told the Parliament this afternoon that both countries have made remarkable progress and that to delay membership would be counter productive.
He commented "Bulgaria and Romania should enter the EU in 2007 and I am concerned by claims circulating in Brussels that Bulgaria might not make it. Bulgaria must not become the victim of a right-wing anti-enlargement backlash. It would be grossly unfair on the new Bulgarian Government led by Sergei Stanishev which has passed a remarkable 60 laws in the 8 months they have been in office. A rejection or delay for Bulgaria would merely fuel the vicious anti-EU, anti-foreigner, anti-minority campaigns led by the populist ATAKA. Bulgaria is the Balkan success story - achieving stability and economic growth in an unstable region now largely in need of massive reconstruction."
"Both countries have made remarkable progress and both have more progress to make. They are both more likely to make that progress within the EU than by being pushed back. So I expect the Commission to give the green light to both countries to become EU members from January 1st 2007."
"Any post accession monitoring or safeguard clauses must be based on further evaluation in the coming months and be agreed at the Council meeting in December and in talks with Romania and Bulgaria."
"I say the EU must say 'come inside' to Bulgaria and Romania."
For more information
Julian Scola, Press Officer
Party of European Socialists
tel 00 32 2 548 9080
julian.scola@pes.org
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