EU membership doesn't come for free

Since joining the EU Bulgaria and Romania have markedly decreased their efforts to enforce the rule of law, the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes: "Both countries are still miles away from European standards and given the way their political systems are working at the moment it doesn't look like they will be able to (or want to) attain them by their own efforts. The blocking of funding with which the EU recently penalised Bulgaria and with which it is now threatening Romania is a minimal sanction. A lot of the evidence points to the European bonanza even having exacerbated the corruption and illegal power struggles. In other words: a gradual cutting off of money supplies from Brussels may not only make a political impact in Bulgaria and Romania but also help to dry out the swamps of corruption there. Such penalties should also serve to teach other candidates for EU membership a lesson: EU membership doesn't come for free."

» more information (external link, German)
More from the press review on the subject » EU enlargement, » EU Policy, » Europe, » Romania, » Bulgaria

» To the complete press review of Friday, February 13, 2009