Helpful chastisement for Bucharest and Sofia

The criticism voiced in the EU Commission's progress report strengthens reform-oriented forces in Romania and Bulgaria, writes the left-liberal daily Der Standard: "The verification mechanism that Brussels adopted when Romania and Bulgaria joined the EU has proved meaningful and effective. This time the Commission has not blocked any EU funds as a sanction. And that would certainly not be helpful in the midst of the economic crisis in which many Rumanians are suffering desperately - especially as Bucharest is still not in a position to absorb all of the money being put at its disposal by the EU. Far better would be to question the country's accession to the Schengen Area as a way of counteracting the lack of political will in Bucharest. Reform-minded people in both new EU states are already delighted at the criticism coming from Brussels, because in the past such criticism has introduced small revolutions in the system of clientelism."

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