EASTERN EUROPE | 01.01.2012

Five years in, newest EU states floundering

 

Bulgaria and Romania are often criticized within the EU

When Bulgaria and Romania joined the European Union five years ago, the two countries were entering a realm of peace, wealth, security and stability. Today, the EU’s newest members are racked with disappointment.

 

EU membership no longer appears to be a guarantee for a better life. As the bloc's poorest country, Bulgaria comes in last in earnings, pension, work productivity and energy efficiency. It continues to receive lacking scores for its judicial reforms, the management of subsidies and its fight against corruption, organized crime and human trafficking. The country is also often criticized in Brussels for poor child protection.

Since Bulgaria's 2007 accession, Brussels has continually pointed to the country's enormous deficit figures - a complaint that finds agreement in Sofia.

"Court proceedings against organized crime drag on for years,” said Antoaneta Pramatorova, a former Bulgarian ambassador to Brussels. “We've still got a long way to go there.“

Criticism from Brussels and Berlin

EU's Barroso had harsh words to say about Bulgaria

In hindsight, many Bulgarians say that their country on January 1, 2007, became a second-class EU member. As evidence, they point to the high hurdles Bulgarians face in accessing the rest of the European labor market. Unlike other EU citizens, Bulgarians and Romanians must apply for work permits in 10 of the bloc's 27 member states.

The introduction of the common euro currency is also still far from view. Bulgaria faced international embarrassment in 2008 when EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso stopped 220 million euros ($285 million) in aid to Sofia after Bulgaria was caught for having repeatedly abused support funds.

"High-level corruption and organized crime have no place in the European Union and cannot be tolerated," Barroso said at the time.

But Brussels' hardline stance against Bulgarian corruption is not shared by everyone. Gernot Erler, a former minister of state in Germany's Foreign Ministry, says that it the cutting of funds hurts the general population, leaving people struggling to feed their families.

"It's a tragedy for this country," Erler said. "But perhaps just as horrible is the loss of prestige that comes into play."

Barely-touched funds

German politician Gernot Erler is worried about Bulgaria's reputation

In Brussels the views on Bulgaria are a mixture of compassion and harsh critique. Even today, there are members of the European Parliament who say Bulgaria and Romania are not ready to be EU members. 

In order to even let the two countries into the union, Brussels set up special standards for Bulgaria's eight million and Romania's 22 million people. Both countries are still subject to special controls. Yet the EU's critical reports of the countries' local politics, and its withholding of funds have led to hardly any visible change. Again, Romania won't be allowed to receive from Brussels the 19 billion euros it is entitled to until 2013.

Even former Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase, who oversaw the country's 2004 accession talks, does not lay blame on the EU. He said it took extraordinary political endeavors to break his country out of the buffer zone between the EU and Russia.

"Romania, for strategic reasons, campaigned harder to become an EU member than the EU perhaps had wished," Nastase said.

No Europe without Southeast Europe

Still, most of Romania's politicians are convinced that the EU would be incomplete without Europe's southeast. According to EU parliamentarian Cristian Preda, a member of Romania's conservative ruling Democratic Liberal Party, an EU with ex-communist countries but no Romania or Bulgaria would be unimaginable.

However, Preda cannot say if the discrepancy between living conditions in Romania and the rest of the EU is the result of a certain national mentality or of lacking political will. He says the development of a society and its politics are closely connected.

"That's why it's so hard to predict when Romania will finally reach the EU standards in all areas," Preda said.

Meanwhile, as Brussels slogs it out with its two latest members, the EU may be growing yet again - but not until next year at the earliest. In November, the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee backed Croatia's bid for EU accession. The former Yugoslavian state could become the bloc's 28th member in 2013, subject to consent by the full parliament.

Authors: Emiliyan Lilov, Cristian Ştefănescu / dl
Editor: Toma Tasovac

 

Goebel Nicole

 

dw