Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia given the go ahead

During a meeting dominated by possible Union membership for Turkey, EU leaders have also given the final green light for membership in 2007 to Bulgaria and Romania. Member states agreed on Friday (13 December) that the accession treaties, the documents outlining the final terms of membership for both countries, should be signed in April. Membership of the Union will be on 1 January, 2007. However, the EU will continue to monitor both countries closely - particularly Romania which only finished negotiating the last chapters of legislation last week. For Bulgaria, the legislation chapter on justice and home affairs is singled out as an area that needs to be watched closely, while justice and home affairs, competition and environment is singled out for special attention for Romania. Similarly, for both countries, safeguard clauses may be applied before they become members and for three years after they become members in case they fall back on commitments. While Sophia and Bucharest are to sign their accession treaties in April - another country will open negotiations with the EU the month before