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European Union (Accessions) Bill

It is not a comfortable matter for me to disagree so absolutely with my hon. Friend, but I think that his recollection of events is somewhat misplaced, in the sense that the possibility of the enlargements of which I spoke has always been clear, not least on the basis of the Nice treaty. The accession of Bulgaria and Romania will add an additional 30 million consumers to the European Union single market. That creates new opportunities which our companies are already keen to secure. For example, Vodafone has just bought out the largest mobile phone operator in Romania. Bulgaria and Romania have made great strides in recent years. The prospect of EU enlargement is encouraging them to make the political, judicial and economic reforms necessary before becoming full members. Bulgarian growth has consistently been double the EU average over the last five years, and successive Governments have successfully halved unemployment over that period. Romania has brought inflation down from more than 100 per cent. in the late 1990s to around 8 per cent. today, and has successfully attracted more foreign direct investment than any other state in south-east Europe. As I mentioned earlier, the Commission produced detailed and rigorous reports on both countries, which were published last week. In presenting those reports, Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said:"““Bulgaria and Romania have achieved significant progress so far in their preparations for accession. But the jury is still out””." The reports highlighted a range of areas in which Bulgaria and Romania need to make urgent progress if they want to be ready for accession in 2007. There are some important general issues that both countries need to address. Corruption remains a serious problem in both countries, undermining public and business confidence, and they need to take urgent and vigorous action to tackle it. Part of the problem lies in their justice systems, which need further reform. Bulgaria must also tackle head-on the problem of organised crime. The daylight assassination last week of a high-ranking financier in Sofia demonstrated starkly the scale of the challenge. In the coming months, the Commission will continue its rigorous monitoring of the progress that both countries are making, targeting in particular the areas of serious concern identified in the reports published last week. It will then produce further reports next April or May.