Bulgaria Excluded From Entering EU in 2004

Wednesday November 14 5:16 AM ET

EU Candidates Making Progress

By JEFFREY ULBRICH, Associated Press Writer

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - In its latest assessment of candidates for European Union membership, the EU's executive arm cited progress in all 12 aspirant countries but said that Bulgaria and Romania still lack functioning market economies.

Turkey, a 13th candidate, has not yet met the EU's criteria for starting negotiations, said a report issued by the European Commission on Tuesday. While recent constitutional reforms are a good start, Turkey still has a long way to go, especially in the area of protecting human rights, the annual report said.

The Commission said it expects to conclude negotiations with the leading candidates by the end of next year. These countries may become members in 2004.

``Enlargement ... is within our grasp,'' said Commission President Romano Prodi. ``The way is open for the peaceful and democratic unification of our continent.''

The candidate countries are Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. The Commission said it would make a decision on the readiness of each candidate in next year's progress report.

Judicial systems and public administration continue to be weaknesses in most of the candidate countries and require further work, the report said. There is also a need ``to tackle the problem of corruption,'' the Commission said.

Cyprus and Malta have functioning market economies and should be able to cope with the competitive pressures and market forces in the Union, the Commission's report concluded.

The Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia are functioning market economies but have substantial economic differences. However, if they continue to progress they should be able to operate with EU competitive pressures in the near term, the Commission said.

Bulgaria needs to continue reforms while Romania has not yet met the economic criteria. Among all the candidates, these two look least like they will be ready for membership by 2004