Roemenië en Bulgarije sluiten cruciale toetredingsovereenkomsten over productie van melk, suiker en tabak (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Romania and Bulgaria, the two countries hoping the join the EU in 2007, closed talks with the EU on agriculture legislation on Friday (4 June).

This is an important step for both countries which are now closer to concluding the pre-accession negotiations with the bloc this year.

The negotiations concerned sensitive agricultural issues such as milk, sugar and tobacco quotas.

Direct payments for farmers are also included in this chapter. Romania and Bulgaria are considered part of this year's fifth enlargement of the EU and so the direct payments will be delivered on the same basis as for the ten countries that joined the EU in May.

The payments will start after accession with 25% of the current EU level and will increase over ten years by 75%.

Bulgaria talks almost finished

On Friday, Bulgaria also closed the Regional Policy and the Financial and Budgetary Provisions talks with the EU. This brings the country to within two chapters of ending the pre-accession negotiations.

The remaining chapters are Competition and Miscellanous. The Miscellanous chapter is supposed to be closed on 15 June in Luxembourg and includes the Schengen agreement (EU open borders area) and the cash flow provisions for Bulgaria.

These provisions will also be discussed with Romania at the end of the accession negotiations - probably at the end of this year.

Bucharest, lagging behind Sophia, still has to deal with chapters like Regional Policy, Environment and Justice and Home Affairs.

Separating the two?

The question of whether to have the two countries enter the EU on different dates is still an issue.

Bulgaria has been looking into the possibilty of being recognised as better prepared than Romania and of eventually joining at an earlier stage.