The European Commission gave Romania and Bulgaria the green light on Tuesday to join the European Union in January, rather than a year later, but it set tough entry conditions, according to Reuters. Following are some key comments in response to the reports: BULGARIAN PRIME MINISTER SERGEI STANISHEV "The European integration process ... definitely disproves all the negative scenarios, expectaions, and doubts of Bulgaria's capabilities. We have refuted them and proved that when we are united in towards a national goal, we can make it." "We should be proud of what we will give Europe, which will make the old continent stronger and more flexible, more open." "Bulgaria will be a breath of fresh air in the European Union, with our enviable economic growth and business environment." ROMANIAN PRIME MINISTER CALIN TARICEANU "Romanians have a reason to be proud of themselves. Our membership in the EU has the same entry terms as that of the 10 states that joined in 2004. So, after entry we will be treated equally like any other EU member. It would be a huge mistake to believe that starting Jan. 1 all our problems will be solved. Romania will have to continue to implement reforms. We will need further efforts to modernise infrastructure, decentralise administration, invest in health and rural regions, and boost capacity to manage EU funds. I can assure you that we will keep momentum." MIRCEA GEOANA, LEADER OF OPPOSITION SOCIAL DEMOCRATS, ROMANIA "We are concerned with the extremely low capacity to absorb EU funds. Unless it steps up efforts, Romania is at risk of absorbing less than 15 percent of Brussels aid. It that happens, then 2007 and 2008 will be extremely difficult years in budget terms." RUMEN PETKOV, BULGARIAN INTERIOR MINISTER "It is important to continue with our policy for zero tolerance for corruption and crime ... If we keep the same pace of reforms, it will be appreciated by Bulgarian citizens and our European partners." KRASSEN STANCHEV, DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE FOR MARKET ECONOMICS, BULGARIA: "In the middle of next year it will turn out that Bulgaria and Romania are just as normal members of the EU as any other country." STELIAN TANASE, POLITICAL ANALYST, ROMANIA "It is the best news we got from Europe in the 16 post-communist years. We have overcome the biggest hurdle since the collapse of communism, but authorities should now maintain the momentum of reforms to ensure a good start in the European Union. Conditions imposed by Brussels look fair and they are rather technical." GERGANA NOUTCHEVA, ANALYST, CENTRE FOR EUROPEAN POLICY STUDIES "The Commission will give both Bulgaria and Romania a few more months before deciding on the safeguard clauses. This way they will keep uncertainty and pressure on Romania and Bulgaria until the very last moment so they can make changes, improvements, reforms, etc. EU states realise it's not going to help reform momentum in these two countries by keeping them out for another year, and it's re-establishing a kind of pressure on them. Of course there's much to be desired still from governing standards, but I wouldn't say the 10 new members that joined two years ago were in perfect condition either. There's a feeling the quality of Bulgaria's and Romania's public administration and judicial systems is a level below the new member states'." SIMON QUIJANO-EVANS, ANALYST, CAIB/BANK AUSTRIA, VIENNA "This is in line with our expectations. It will be supportive for ratings in both countries although clearly Romania has more to benefit on the rating side. We continue to believe that Romania could overtake both Bulgaria and Croatia on ratings within the next 10 months. It's obviously supportive for the exchange rate. Whether it will have any immediate effect -- I doubt it because expectations were in general for 'yes'. It underlines the reform process, which is obviously good for FDI (foreign direct investment)." IVAILO VESSELINOV, EMERGING MARKET ANALYST, DRESDNER KLEINWORT WASSERSTEIN "We believe that the possible cuts in the financial benefits for the two countries will be limited both because they will continue with the reforms and because the EU would not want to see the two new members heavily penalised in the future. We don't believe that the living conditions in the two countries will improve overnight ... They are now essentially EU members, which means investment will be going up in the future, they will be getting help from the EU and this will have a gradual but positive effect on both economies going forward."
