"Public Opinion May Delay" EU Entry of Bulgaria, Romania

Views on BG | February 18, 2006, Saturday // 00:00

Public opinion is certainly to be "a factor" for both France and the Netherlands in handling the option for a delay of Bulgaria and Romania's accession to the EU.

According to an online edition on EU affairs, despite the official line that timing depends purely on meeting EU standards, France and the Netherlands will take their enlargement-wary public opinion into account when deciding whether to delay with a year the entry of the two Balkan entrants.

EUobserver has quoted a French source as saying that no country can disregard public opinion.

The uneasiness of French and Dutch citizens over enlargement is widely seen as the key reason why they rejected the EU constitution in referendums early last year.

The Accession Treaty signed by Brussels with Bucharest and Sofia last April contain a safeguard clause with the option to postpone the 2007 entry date until 2008, if accession preparations are insufficient.

Yet, not all European diplomats estimate the option of entry postponement as realistic. Optimists say that something extremely serious would have to happen for accession to be delayed, as this would send a "very negative signal" to the region.

They have noted there is a high probability that the EC will issue a positive opinion in its May report, pointing to an upbeat non-public interim document by the EU executive currently circulating in member states' representations.

Policy experts have disagreed on whether the one-year delay option is a good means to help the two states meet EU standards.

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