Main focus of Thursday, July 23, 2009

Bad marks for Romania and Bulgaria

On Wednesday the EU Commission presented its progress reports on the two newest members of the EU - Romania and Bulgaria. Particularly with regard to fighting corruption and criminality the reports say the two countries have failed to achieve the standards of the other EU states. The Commission already criticised Bulgaria a year ago and cancelled funding.

Die Presse - Austria

The latest progress report by the EU Commission makes it clear that Romania and Bulgaria became members of the EU too soon, the daily Die Presse writes: "Their politically motivated integration in the EU meant that they lost much of their motivation to tackle widespread corruption and organised crime. ... Bulgaria and Romania are being delayed in their development because they don't really fit into the EU system yet. In other words by being over-ambitious about becoming EU members they have penalised themselves. Their accession has not paid off for either side. Neither for the two countries themselves, which strove to join the West as quickly as possible with the help of the EU. Nor for their EU partners, which wanted to make sure that their companies could do business in Romania and Bulgaria without much risk. And it has not paid off for the region as a whole either, where other possible accession candidates have now been discredited." (23/07/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU enlargement, » EU Policy, » Europe, » Romania, » Bulgaria
All available articles from » Wolfgang Böhm

Gândul - Romania

The daily Gândul views the EU's progress report on Romania as very benevolent: "Many critical remarks directed at the Romanian authorities have completely disappeared [from the report], without anything positive having happened in Romania. The threat to tie accession to the Schengen zone to reform of the justice system has gone, for example. ... The government in Bucharest has benefited from the current political context: the changing of the political guard in Brussels occasioned by the elections to the European parliament. When it comes to politics, everything is ultimately a deal. The votes of the Romanian MEPs will be crucial in the autumn when [Commission President] José Manuel Barroso will be seeking to renew his mandate as President of the European Commission. ... At this moment it should be more evident to the Romanians than ever that Bucharest's policies and bureaucracy, even if they are not viewed favourably by Europe, will actually be accepted and tolerated." (23/07/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » EU enlargement, » EU Policy, » Domestic Policy, » Europe, » Romania, » Bulgaria
All available articles from » Gabriela Stefan

Dnevnik - Bulgaria

The daily Dnevnik comments on the satisfaction of Bulgarian politicians with the EU's progress reports: "Everybody is happy! That is the impressive result of  the EU's progress report on home affairs and justice in Bulgaria. The ministers retiring from office breathed a sigh of relief that the report does not contain a 'safeguard clause' [measures to prevent particular problems or threats to the orderly functioning of the EU] which would have been the icing on the government's rotten cake. Seen in this light all criticism looks like a friendly pat on the back. ... What more do we want, after we have been allowed to board an extra carriage (really a horse-drawn cart) attached to the EU train specially for us (and Romania) - even if it is unlikely that we will soon find ourselves in a better situation."   (23/07/2009)

» full article (external link, Bulgarian)
More from the press review on the subject » EU enlargement, » EU Policy, » Europe, » Bulgaria
All available articles from » Svetlana Georgieva

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