Bulgaria, Romania Join To Enlarge EU To 27
Romania and Bulgaria joined the European Union on January 1, 2007 with all-night celebrations, bringing 30 million new citizens to the bloc, now with 27 members. The two Balkan countries officially entered the EU at the stroke of midnight, which ushered in the New Year and coincided with the hand-over from Finland to Germany of the EU's six-month rotating presidency. The two countries completed entry negotiations in 2004 and signed EU accession treaties in April 2005. The Balkan neighbours, largely sharing a border on the Danube River, acceded under strict conditions and at a time when EU leaders put the brakes on further enlargement.
Bulgarian, Romanian EU Commissioner Swear In
Bulgaria's Meglena Kuneva swore in as a European Union Commissioner for Consumers Protection on January 22, as commanded by a practice first introduced in 1999. The festive ceremony took place in the Court of Justice the European Communities on Luxembourg. Wearing a robe and wig, Kuneva took her oath in front of Vassilios Skouris, president of the Court of Justice and the European judges. The Romanian EU Commissioner for multilinguism Leonard Orban also swore in on that day.
EC Blacklists 5 Bulgarian, 9 Russian Air Carriers
The European Commission added on March 5 five Bulgarian companies to the blacklisted air carriers that cannot service flights within the EU - Air Sofia, Bright Aviation Services, Heli Air Services, Skorpion Air, Vega Airlines. Russia had nine of its companies forbidden to fly in the EU, Iceland and Switzerland. They are: Aero Rent, Tatarstan, Atlant Soyuz, Aviakon Zitotrans, Centre Avia, Gazpromavia, Lukoil, Russkoe Nebo,Utair. A total of ten other air carriers from Kyrgyzstan, Equatorial Guinea and Congo have been blacklisted too. At the end of June the four of the cargo airlines were stripped of license. The fifth blacklisted company Heli Air was allowed to operate but only in areas outside the European Union.
Bulgaria's EU Commish Fights Itunes For Unfair Competition
Bulgaria's EU Commissioner Meglena Kuneva, who is in charge of consumer protection, accused Apple Co. of unfair competition. Talking to the German Focus magazine in the middle of March, Kuneva threw accusations of unfair competition at the company in connection with the sale of music for their iPods. The European Commission confirmed Kuneva's comment but stressed it represented her personal views only, not those of the Commission.
EU Marks 50th Anniversary With Declaration Of Berlin
Leaders of the European Union Adopted on March 25 the Declaration of Berlin with which the EU marked its 50th anniversary. Adopting a new constitutional treaty by the end of 2009 is one of the things included in the Berlin Declaration. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country held the EU presidency at the moment, President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso and EP President Hans-Gert Poetering signed the declaration in the German Historical Museum at the presence of the leader of the 27 member states. The Declaration of Berlin aimed at giving a new impetus to Europe after the institutional crisis of 2005, which was caused by the French and the Dutch saying "No" to the referendums.
EU Introduces New Road Safety Rules
New EU rules for the road transport sector entered into force April 11 to increase safety and improve working conditions for commercial vehicle drivers. The new regulations apply to all vehicles exceeding 3.5 tonnes, or which can carry 10 passengers or more (including the driver). All drivers of heavy goods vehicles and passenger transport vehicles will have at least two full days off every two weeks and a longer rest period each day.
MEPs Ok Cut in EU Roaming Charges
The European Parliament's industry committee voted in the middle of April with an overwhelming majority for cutting roaming charges across the union. The move opens the way for EU citizens to benefit from lower roaming charges for mobile phones as early as this summer. MEPs set a single cap of 40 euro cents for all outgoing mobile phone roaming calls, 15 euro cent cap for calls received and 23 euro cents for wholesalers, plus VAT.
"Jailed Nurses For Meps" Idea Proves Controversial
Officials from the Central Election Committee firmly objected to the recently hatched idea that the five nurses, jailed in Libya, are nominated for MEPs in Bulgaria's first upcoming elections for European parliamentarians. The idea gained further momentum last week after the nurses and the only acquitted defendant in the HIV trial, doctor Zdravko Georgiev, warmly embraced it. The law states that only Bulgarians who have lived in the country or in a EU member state in the three months prior to the election would be able to vote. At the end of March the Bulgarian medics, tried in Libya in a travesty HIV trial, were listed as the first six candidates for MEPs on the ticket of the right-wing party "Order, Rule of Law and Justice". Bulgaria's central electoral body, however, refused to register the nominations of the five nurses and one doctor, held in Libya in a travesty HIV trial, for running in the upcoming MEP elections.
Sofia Mayor Party Wins Bulgaria's MEP Vote Battle - Final Results
The GERB party of Sofia mayor Boyko Borisov won the day in Bulgaria's first ever MEP elections that took place on May 20, getting 21.69%. Second ranked the ruling coalition partners Socialists, who won 21.41%, followed by Bulgaria's ethnic Turk Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) with 20.26%. The other two formations, which will have representatives in the European Parliament, are the nationalist party Ataka (14.22%) and the centrist Simeon II National Movement that managed to gather 6.26% of the votes. The rest 11 parties, coalitions and independent candidates, including Bulgaria's two established rightist parties, the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) and Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB), failed to make the 5.66% threshold necessary to win even a single seat.
Bulgaria, EU Sign National Strategic Reference Framework
Bulgaria's Finance Minister Plamen Oresharski and Regional Policy European Commissioner Danuta Huebner signed June 22 the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) for the period from 2007 to 2013. The framework gives Bulgaria access to EUR 853 B from EU structural and cohesion funds and more than EUR 1.128 B of national co-funding.
Bulgaria Gets EU Reality Check, Dodges Safeguard Clause
Bulgaria's first progress report since joining the EU in January, published on June 27 by the European Commission, did not invoke the safeguard clauses, but demanded more political commitment to implementing judiciary reforms. The main accent in the report on Bulgaria is on the justice system, the fight against corruption and organized crime, but the EC also reviewed the situation regarding other areas of concern - agricultural funding, food safety and aviation safety. To facilitate future assessments of the progress made in this direction, the reports put forward a series of concrete follow up measures and tangible objectives. Should the country fail to implement them, the commission reserved its right to invoke the safeguard clauses in its next report in 2008.
EU Eases Visa Regime With Balkans
The European Union signed on September 20 agreements with five Balkan countries, making it cheaper and easier for Albania, Bosnia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia citizens to travel. The deals are expected to come into force in January and the five countries also agreed to take back illegal immigrants who reach the EU through the Balkans, EUexpands reported.
Ferrero-Waldner Awarded Bulgaria's Highest State Order
European Union External Relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner was awarded Bulgaria's highest state order Stara Planina - first degree by the country's President Georgi Parvanov at a special ceremony on September 17.
Bulgaria Downplays UK Fears Of Jobseekers Impact
As the United Kingdom is preparing its first official analysis of the impact of migration, Bulgaria renewed calls for lifting the restrictive measures imposed on its jobseekers. "There are only four Bulgarian nationals, who were forcefully brought back from London to Sofia since the country joined the European Union on January 1, 2007. Two of them were residing illegally and the other two were working illegally in the United Kingdom," Bulgaria's Euro-Affairs Minister Gergana Grancharova said in an interview for Darik Radio. She called the figures "very encouraging" and recalled a recent survey that left the United Kingdom out of the top three most coveted destinations for Bulgarian jobseekers.
Bulgaria Wins Battle over Euro Spelling
The "linguistic-technical problem", raised in October by Bulgaria regarding the name of the EU's common currency, was solved in her favour. Bulgaria demanded the currency to be spelt as it is pronounced in Bulgarian - "evro", but first met strong resistance from the European Central Bank, which insisted that the name of the single currency must be the same in all the official languages of the EU - "euro". The agreement was reached at the informal summit of the EU's leaders in Lisbon after all member-states supported Bulgaria's position. Bulgaria's position was made stronger by the fact that the European currency is spelt "evro" in the Bulgarian-language version of the accession treaty the country signed with the EU. Besides the country is the first to introduce the Cyrillic alphabet to the bloc and its papers provide for recognition of the characteristic features of all official languages.
EU Opens Six Infringement Proceedings against Bulgaria
The European Commission opened six infringement proceedings against Bulgaria on October 18 for failing to comply with EU rules.The first area of failure concerns the lack of sufficient information about the forecasts and measures on monitoring greenhouse gas emissions and the Kyoto protocol implementation. The second infringement procedure against Bulgaria is over inadequate waste management infrastructure in its capital, Sofia. Bulgaria's accession treaty foresees no transitional period for meeting these requirements and thus it should have complied with them from 1 January 2007. The third infringement proceeding against Bulgaria is for lack of availability of the European emergency number 112. The fourth and fifth infringement proceedings are opened for delay in the introduction of biometrical data documents and for failure to comply with EU legislation requirement for notaries to hold Bulgarian citizenship. The last problematic area concerns the processing of waste, which is the result of shipping.
Bulgaria Sues Brussels over CO2 Quota
Bulgaria has lodged on December 28 an appeal with the European Court of Justice against the decision of the European Commission to drastically reduce the greenhouse emissions quota of the country. This is the first time that Bulgaria launches legal proceedings against the European Commission as member of the European Union, which it joined on January 1, 2007. In October, the EC cut on Bulgaria's greenhouse emissions for 2008-2012 by 37%, saying that the ministry did not offer compelling arguments in defence of its demand for a bigger quota. According to the ministry, the new quota is not correctly calculated and the EC has not taken in mind the closing of unit 3 and 4 of Bulgaria's nuclear power plant Kozloduy, which will make CO2 producing thermal power plants work at full capacity.
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Romania and Bulgaria joined the European Union on January 1, 2007 with all-night celebrations, bringing 30 million new citizens to the bloc, now with 27 members. Photo by Yuliana Nikolova (Sofia Photo Agency)
