The EU Commissioner for Enlargement Gunther Verheugen considers that Romania and Bulgaria can no longer catch up with the other ten applicant countries, which are ready to conclude the accession talks in 2002 and join the European Union in 2004.
Verheugen, who spoke at Strasbourg after the presentation of the reports regarding the applicant countries' preparation stage, pointed that "it is desirable, but impossible" for the two states to conclude the accession negotiations in 2002. Romania and Bulgaria could at most open all the negotiation chapters next year.
Verheugen emphasised that the governments of the two countries have implicitly admitted this situation, as they aim to join the EU in 2007.
Verheugen considers that the target of Romania and Bulgaria to join the EU in 2007 is a realistic goal and specifies that, after the first enlargement stage, which is likely to take place in 2004, Romania and Bulgaria will not be neglected, but will benefit from the Union's undivided attention.
The European Commission will focus on the two countries and help them to speed up the accession preparations and negotiations.
The strategic review on the EU enlargement process, which was presented on Tuesday together with the country surveys, specifies that the European Commission next year might point out the particular countries that will conclude the accession negotiations in 2002 and will present a schedule of the negotiations with Romania and Bulgaria.
This schedule will provide details on the negotiation stage and, if necessary, will propose a date when talks with the two countries might be concluded.
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