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Bulgaria, Romania Win EU Parliament Support for Entry (Update1)
April 13 (Bloomberg) -- Bulgaria and Romania won the European Parliament's support for their plans to join the European Union in 2007, boosting the chance of more foreign investment in the two former communist countries.
The Strasbourg, France-based parliament, which has veto power over EU membership treaties, today endorsed the Bulgarian and Romanian accession agreements due to be signed April 25 in Luxembourg. Both nations completed entry talks in December.
``These countries have made a lot of progress,'' Elmar Brok, German head of the assembly's foreign-affairs committee, said in an interview. ``We want to offer them the prospect of membership.''
The prospect for EU membership led to a tripling of foreign investment in Romania to $5.5 billion in 2004, while Bulgaria attracted $2.54 billion, the most in a year since the fall of communism in 1989. Romania's BET10 stock index has risen 84 percent in the past 12 months, while Bulgaria's Sofix is up 69 percent.
Bulgaria and Romania would expand the EU to 27 nations and to the Black Sea. The two countries with a combined population of 30 million plan to complete the process of making their legislation conform to European standards after signing the membership treaties.
The EU has reserved the right to delay the entry of Bulgaria and Romania by a year should they fail to make reforms including the establishment of an independent judiciary. The two nations must overhaul their legal systems to fight corruption and organized crime, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn told the parliament yesterday in a sign of the bloc's hardening stance on expansion.
Delay for Croatia
The EU has delayed the start of accession talks with Croatia, imposed conditions on beginning negotiations with Turkey and refused to offer Ukraine the prospect of membership following the bloc's biggest-ever expansion last year.
After accepting 10 mainly eastern European nations including Poland in 2004, the EU plans institutional changes to avoid decision-making gridlock and faces opposition in some countries to further expansion.
``Bulgaria and Romania must deliver on key reforms,'' Rehn said. ``The clock is ticking. Every day, every week and every month count from now on.''
The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, plans to publish a report in November on reforms in Bulgaria and Romania. Rehn said he would consider the parliament's view before making any proposal to the EU's national governments on delaying membership.
Consultations
Rehn's pledge to consult parliament on the possible use of this ``safeguard'' clause followed demands by parliament members that their views be taken into account after Bulgaria and Romania sign the membership treaties.
By giving its assent to the treaties, the assembly lost its veto power over membership and any decision to postpone entry will rest solely with the national governments acting on a proposal by the commission.
The parliament will stay involved by debating the readiness of Bulgaria and Romania to join after the commission report, said Brok, who said membership in 2007 wasn't guaranteed.
``These countries still have a lot to do,'' he said. ``They have criteria to fulfill so the safeguard clause doesn't kick in.''
The parliament endorsed the Bulgarian accession treaty by a vote of 522 to 70 with 69 abstentions and the Romanian treaty by a vote of 497 to 93 with 71 abstentions.
The  has today approved the signing of the Accession Treaties of Romania and Bulgaria, effectively endorsing their accession to the European Union. The parliament voted on the Romanian Accession Treaty with 497 positive votes, 93 negative votes and 71 abstentions. Bulgaria received a slightly more positive message, with 522 votes in favour of its Accession Treaty, 70 negative votes and 69 abstentions.

After this vote, which was legally-binding, the two countries will sign their Accession Treaties on April 25, when they will move from being candidate countries to accession countries - that is, from April 25, the two countries will send observers to the European Parliament and will receive larger amounts of pre-accession funding.