Bulgaria still needs reforms despite entry: EU

SOFIA, Sep 27: European Union officials praised Bulgaria today for its preparations for EU entry next year but said things were ''not perfect'' and urged it to push on with reform.

The EU's executive Commission gave Bulgaria and its Black Sea neighbour Romania the green light yesterday to join the wealthy bloc on January 1, waiving a potential one-year delay.

But it imposed the toughest entry conditions on any EU newcomers to date and said it could deny them full membership benefits or strip them of some of the billions of euros in aid they are due unless they continued with reforms.

''Yesterday we announced the decision. Today we are commemorating. Tomorrow, let's go back to work, because there's a lot still to be done,'' European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told a news conference in Sofia.

In particular, the EU says Bulgaria must improve its lumbering judiciary and crack down on graft and organised criminal groups who diplomats say have taken over major parts of Bulgaria's economy.

It must also amend its constitution to remove ambiguity about judicial independence and accountability and prove it can jail corrupt top-level officials and crime bosses.

Romania must strengthen its top court and establish an agency to identify the assets of senior officials. Both countries need to finish setting up agencies to disburse EU farm and development funds.

''I want to encourage you to continue the reforms because everything is not perfect,'' said EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn.

WORK CUT OUT The Danube duo missed out on the bloc's first expansion into ex-communist eastern Europe in 2004, when it accepted 10 new members, because their economic and political reforms were judged too slow.

Their entry will swell the EU to include 27 member states, and add around 30 million people to its current population of more than 450 million.

The bloc can impose sanctions, which could exclude the newcomers from policies such as open borders and common markets, for up to three years after entry.

''I hope they will not have to be used, but that depends on Bulgaria and its actions in the coming months and coming years,'' said Rehn. He and Barroso are scheduled to travel to Bucharest later today.

The newcomers will also face curbs on migration.

Most EU members will refuse entry to Bulgarian and Romanian workers for now, while Britain, which has been flooded by an estimated 600,000 immigrants from ex-communist member states, said it would let them in only gradually.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev vowed to dispel fears among some EU states that allowing Bulgaria to join is a mistake.

''This is a historical achievement for the Bulgarian people ... but we should not relax and think that we are perfect,'' he said. ''Now our big ambition should be to prove to many sceptics that we Bulgarians are capable.''

Reuters