EU: Two days after putting Croatia's European Union aspirations on hold, Brussels issued a sharp warning to Romania and Bulgaria yesterday to push through vital reforms or jeopardise their planned accession in 2007.
On a visit to the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn reminded the country's parliament that Brussels had included a safeguard clause in its accession agreement with the two Balkan hopefuls.
It "allows member states, based on a proposal by the European Commission, to postpone the planned date of accession by one or both countries by one year," he said.
"This will occur in the case where the country is manifestly unprepared in an important number of areas," Mr Rehn added, reminding the Black Sea neighbours that they both have work to do fighting crime and corruption, strengthening their legal systems and improving the lot of minorities like the Roma.
The reform of the judiciary to make it "more efficient, reliable, effective and transparent . . . is the priority of priorities," for Bulgaria, Mr Rehn said.
Mr Rehn praised Romania's progress since the election of President Traian Basescu in December, but reiterated concerns over the country's justice system and lack of fair competition in business, a problem that Bulgaria also has to rectify.
"If reinforced efforts continue and have support in the Romanian parliament, then Romania has a fair chance of meeting the criteria and becoming a member in 2007," he said.
Both aspirants are due to sign formal accession treaties with Brussels in late April, and take the bloc's number of member states to 27 in January 2007.
In Bucharest yesterday, Kalman Miszei, the UN's assistant secretary general, praised Mr Basescu's anti-corruption fight but urged more reform and lower income tax.
"It is commendable that the president is so adamant (about corruption) but what we also need is . . . to create a legal framework so that public officials cannot abuse office and have salaries which allow them to live decently," Mr Miszei said.
Croatia had held out lingering hopes of joining the EU alongside Bulgaria and Romania until this week, when Brussels declined to start accession talks with Zagreb over its failure to track down its most wanted war crimes suspect, Gen Ante Gotovina.
A poll published yesterday in a leading Croatian newspaper showed that just 44 per cent of Croats now support joining the EU, and only 8 per cent want Gen Gotovina arrested.
Croatian officials insist the country is still on track to join the EU by 2009.