site.btaEC Spokesman: Bulgaria, Romania Vibrant European Democracies

EC Spokesman: Bulgaria, Romania Vibrant  European Democracies

Brussels, January 3 (BTA corr. Nikolay Jeliazkov) - Bulgaria and Romania, who joined the EU ten years ago, are vibrant European democracies, said a Spokesman of the European Commission at the first EC news conference in the new year. He also said that in 2017 the European project becomes 60 years old.

On its website the EC has published an archive video of the ceremony of the signing of the accession agreements with Bulgaria and Romania and the text of the press release of 28 December 2006 saying that "on 1 January 2007 the EU welcomes two new Member States and 30 million people, when Bulgaria and Romania join the European Union. This completes the EU's historic fifth round of enlargement peacefully reuniting Western and Eastern Europe after decades of division".

Commenting the new reports due for the two countries under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM), the EC Spokesman said that a date has not yet been set but that the CVM reports could be expected towards the end of January, as the usual yearly practice.

Asked about the Bulgarian candidate for a European Commissioner to replace outgoing Kristalina Georgieva who will work in the World Bank, the Spokesman said that the Bulgarian authorities are to appoint a candidate, which has not yet been done.