The European Commission report on May 16 will send a strong signal to what Bulgaria and Romania are expected to do," Poettering says. Photo by Yuliana Nikolova (Sofia News Agency)
The European Union wants Bulgaria and Romania to make the best of the time left and implement reforms as fast as possible to enter the union in 2007.
This assurance was given by the leader of the largest European parliament political group, German conservative Hans-Gert Poettering, in an interview for the Bulgarian News Agency.
Asked whether the decoupling of the two Balkan countries is a realistic option, Poettering said: "Theoretically everything is possible. The European Union has repeatedly said that each applicant will be assessed on its own merits."
"The European Commission report on May 16 will send a strong signal to what Bulgaria and Romania are expected to do," Poettering said.
At the beginning of April EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn presented his preliminary report on Bulgaria and Romania and said their EU accession in 2007 is doable. But in his presentation of both countries EU efforts, he made a clear distinction between the two, reserving his praise for Romania.
For the first time since the two Balkan countries were coupled in a package for the 2007 enlargement, Rehn said only one of the two countries might accede as planned.
Bulgaria once led Romania in EU reforms but stumbled last year after a protracted political standoff and a failure to lay corruption charges against high-level officials or convict anyone for a string of contract murders.