BULGARIA: Barroso: Today We Celebrate, Tomorrow We Are Back to Work

The Bulgarian government has to remain focused and pursue further reforms, this was Jose Manuel Barroso's, President of the European Commission and enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn's message. The two of them came to Sofia to hand in person the last monitoring report of the EC on the progress of Bulgaria. Yesterday, the European Commission announced that Bulgarian would join the EU on January 1, 2007 but under strict conditions.
"This is no time to relax. Today we celebrate but tomorrow we have to go back to work because there is a lot to be done," said Barroso after his meeting with Bulgaria's PM Sergei Stanishev.
According to Barroso there is nothing to dramatize about the safeguard clauses as this is not a precedent. Olli Rehn's opinion is that they were put there to ensure the enactment of much needed reforms.
"It is only up to Bulgaria to decide whether the safeguard clauses will become a big chapter or simply a footnote in history," said Rehn.
Source: Standart Daily