Romania, Bulgaria to sign EU entry pact

Romania and Bulgaria will Monday sign European Union (EU) entry accords paving the way to join the bloc in 2007, but officials insist the two countries still have much to do to meet that target date.

The two countries' presidents and prime ministers will travel to Luxembourg to sign the EU accession treaty in the sidelines of a regular meeting of EU foreign ministers.

Also at the two-day meeting Croatia, which at one point hoped to join the EU at the same time as Bucharest and Sofia, will make a new bid to win a green light for EU entry talks, delayed in particular over a key war crimes suspect.

Romania and Bulgaria, with a combined population of some 30 million, would be the poorest countries in the bloc if they were to join tomorrow, with a pro capita GDP of less than 30 percent of the EU average.

Once their accession treaty is signed they have barely 20 months to bring their countries up to EU standards in all areas. If they fail to do so the EU could yet trigger a "safeguard clause" delaying EU entry until January 2008.

Both countries, which were slow in starting reforms after the 1989 collapse of communism in the region, were left out of last year's "big bang" expansion from 15 to 25 countries, including eight ex-communist states.

Romania is under particular pressure, with EU safeguard clauses hanging over its head if it fails to make sufficient reform progress in the areas of justice and home affairs and competition policy.

The EU is also yet to be satisfied that Bucharest has done enough to stamp out rampant corruption -- an area still a subject for concern in Bulgaria, where in addition the court system is seen as sometimes too lenient.

Other areas where more progress is needed include improving the lot of Roma minorities, modernizing the farm sector and preparing their civil services to prepare to keep to European standards.

Officials from the two countries -- where public opinion is massively in favour of joining the EU, are aware the entry date could be delayed but appear confident they can do enough.

Romanian Foreign Minister Razvan Ungureanu likened joining the EU, which has already provided huge amounts of aid to his country, to going into a sweet shop. "No candies will be available without work," he said.

Both Romania and Bulgaria are already looking beyond EU entry, saying they are keen to join the eurozone bloc of countries sharing Europe's single currency.

Their economic development has certainly been impressive, albeit starting from a low level: Bulgaria's economy has been growing by an average 5-6 percent annually, while Romania registered a record 8.3 percent GDP growth in

Bulgaria's deputy premier Nikolai Vassilev is proud of the free-market reforms his country has pushed through.

"Ten years ago, you would have considered Bulgaria to be a very backward country in the terms of reforms and the lack of liberalization. Now if you are saying we are too liberalized, I take it as a compliment," he said.

On Tuesday Croatia will hold talks with the EU in Luxembourg, hoping to make progress in persuading the bloc to let it start EU entry talks.

EU foreign ministers refused to open talks with Croatia as scheduled last month due to its lack of cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to find fugitive general Ante Gotovina.

UN chief war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte has been invited to this week's meeting, but there have been few signs that she will change her verdict that Zagreb is doing enough to help her find Gotovina.