Allowing Bulgarian and Romania to enter the European Union in 2007 would be scandalous and a farce, former German President Roman Herzog has said in an interview.

Both countries still have a lot of work to do before they join the EU 25, Herzog claims for German Focus magazine. He adds that determining accession criteria was pointless if the EU didn't plan to enforce them.

Herzog, who headed Germany from 1994 to 1999, believes that the leniency towards Bulgaria and Romania creates suspicion in the EU's abilities. He thinks that this leniency is among the reasons for the French and Dutch voters to wave off the EU constitution project in 2005.

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