Twenty-seven stars

“We are on the eve of a historic moment”. The Romanian and Bulgarian ambassadors in Italy, CRISTIAN COLTEANU and NICOLA KALOUDOUV , speak in unison, as their two countries prepare to join the European Union on 1st January 2007, thus raising the number of member states to 27. At a press conference in Rome on 11 December, promoted by the office of the European Commission in Italy, the two diplomats emphasized that “Bulgaria and Romania will bring a breath of euro-optimism into the EU. But their accession will have to be followed up by the implementation of the principles and reforms requested by Europe as part of the process of integration. Enlargement of markets and trade, security, human rights, democracy and greater political stability in the Balkan area” are the main contributions that, according to Colteanu and Kaloudouv, the two former Communist countries will bring to Europe. With Romania and Bulgaria the number of languages spoken in the EU rises to 26, and the number of alphabets used to three: Latin, Greek and Cyrillic, the latter used in Bulgaria. The accession of the two countries will also mark the entry of a further 30 million inhabitants into the EU, completing its fifth historic enlargement and giving rise to a Union of almost half a billion citizens. ROMANIA. “The great euro-optimism of the Romanians is well known”, remarked CRISTIAN COLTEANU. “Two-thirds of the population are in favour of EU accession and for the government itself integration has represented a national strategic objective. From membership of the EU we expect democracy, rule of law, firmly entrenched civil liberties, and security. At the economic and social level we expect an improvement in living standards. We will be a reliable partner in so strategic zone for European interests as the Balkan area”. The ambassador was also keen to dispel the fears of “a feared invasion of Romanian workers in other member states. Romania – he said – is no longer a country of forced emigration. Thanks to the process of reforms and the realization of new infrastructures, for which some 60 billion euros have been committed, unemployment now stands at 5.1% and drops to as low as 1% in some areas of the country. Nor should we forget that the city of Sibiu will be, together with Luxembourg, the European Capital of Culture in 2007”. The Third Ecumenical Assembly will also be held in the same city in September next year. BULGARIA. “With our entry into the EU a long and difficult process comes to completion”, declared the Bulgarian ambassador, NICOLA KALOUDOUV . He pointed to the reforms “linked to justice, the crackdown on corruption, and the administration of the State” as the main problems that Bulgaria has had to tackle, but these hurdles have been “successfully overcome, avoiding the so-called safeguard measures that would have delayed entry into Europe”. “The measures requested by the EU were more restrictive and scrupulous than those required in the previous enlargement to ten new countries – declared Kaloudouv – but Europe is not only a further opportunity but also a further responsibility”. Among the main contributions that Bulgaria will bring to the EU the ambassador underlined “the role that the country can play in strengthening the stability of the Balkan countries and the security of Eastern European frontiers”. This was a concept also stressed by the Vice-President of the European Commission, FRANCO FRATTINI : “Romania and Bulgaria are countries that will help stabilization in the Balkans, playing a key role also in Albania, Bosnia and Macedonia, where the European vocation is strong and where it will be possible to invest with serenity”. In this regard Frattini also announced “the establishment of a task force for the Black Sea, crossroads of illegal traffic, of arms, drugs and human beings” and the involvement in it of the two future members of the EU. “Bulgaria and Romania are two countries with an Orthodox Christian majority and this – he concluded – will also facilitate the dialogue between cultures and religions that are not an obstacle but a resource for the EU”. Fact File: Romania and Bulgaria Situated in South-Eastern Europe, between Romania and Turkey, bathed by the Black Sea, the Republic of Bulgaria , with its capital Sofia, has 7.9 million inhabitants, 85.3% of them Bulgarians, 8.5% Turks, 2.6% gipsies and 3,6% others. Various religions are present: the majority are Orthodox Christians (85%), followed by Muslims (13%), Jews (0.8%) and Roman Catholics (0.5%). The unemployment rate is 9.9%. The Republic of Romania , with its capital Bucharest, has some 22 million inhabitants, of whom 89.5% are Romanians, 6.4 % Hungarians and 4% other nationalities. As for religion, 86.8% of the population are Orthodox Christians, 4,7% Catholics, 3.2% Protestants, 0.9% Greek-Catholics, and 0.1% evangelicals.