Welcome Bulgaria and Romania

9.26.19am GMT Tue 2nd Jan 2007

Turkey flag

Yesterday saw both Bulgaria and Romania join the European Union, taking the number of member states to 27. Both should be welcomed and the EU has a duty to fulfil its duty to the other applicant states and finish negotiations as speedily as possible and admit those that that meet the entry criteria, most urgently they should conclude the negotiations with Turkey and admit them.

There will be some saying after Bulgaria and Romania's accession we should not take any new members, at least for now. I would disagree and believe that the Union has both the capacity to grow in number and reform itself (something I would certainly agree needs to happen). We have a chance in the next few years to complete a Union that is truly Europe-wide, there should be no excuses not to.