27/09/2006 3:20:53 pm
From 25 To 27 And 450 To 480 - Welcome! As expected, Bulgaria and Romania got the green light from the EU. They will have to fulfil strict demands, but if nothing extraordinary happens, the EU will have 27 Member States from January 1st, with some 480 million inhabitants. Next in line is Croatia, perhaps in 2009. The big thing later on will be Turkey and there are several obstacles on their way, but the discussion is there and hopefully they will join in about ten years time.

The enlargement with Bulgaria and Romania sparks off a protectionist debate once again. But please remember that all the studies of the last, much bigger, enlargement in 2004 prove that the fears were unfounded and did not come true. Here is one study, here are others. And here is a piece I wrote about why enlargement is such a success.