№102. Bulgaria and Romania's Accession to the EU, Postponement, Safeguards and the Rule of Law - Noutcheva, Gergana (CEPS Centre for European Policy Studies, 2006)
On the day before the European Commission's decision on the fitness of Bulgaria and Romania to become EU members on 1 January 2007 (due to be delivered 16 May 2006), it is becoming increasingly evident that the EU has fallen into its own 'rhetorical trap' from which there is no easy way out. Most EU officials and politicians would agree that the governance standards in the two Balkan candidates are not up to EU level yet, but everyone knows that there is not much the EU can do about it at this point