Emergency brake

The Austrian daily Der Standard believes many mistakes were made when Bulgaria and Romania became members of the EU: "Blocking 500 million euros in EU funding now is tantamount to applying the emergency brake - only after the accident has already happened. For the crash occurred when the two countries joined, and the mistake was to give Bulgaria and Romania a fixed date for accession while negotiations were still in progress. It is a bit like telling a school pupil he has passed his exams before he has even taken them - the enthusiasm to learn and engage in reforms quickly waned in Sofia and Bucharest. This has caused enormous damage not only to the two countries, for the millions that have seeped away into mafioso structure provide welcome ammunition for those venomous populists with their own axe to grind. Of course the abuses must be put a stop to straight away, and it is clear that Romania and Bulgaria joined the EU too early. Nevertheless, it is only fair to point out that at the end of the day both Austria's and the EU's economic balance with both countries is still positive - among other reasons because their accession established an important framework."

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