New EU members - Bulgaria & Romania

Yesterday at midnight, the countries of Bulgaria and Romania celebrated their entrance into the EU. Their accession means the EU now has 27 members and half a billion people, and stretches as far east as the Black Sea. Moreover Slovenia became the first of the group of 10 countries that joined in 2004, to adopt the euro.

The accession of the two new countries comes amid falling enthusiasm in Europe for the bloc's continuing expansion. They will now be subject to strict monitoring, to ensure they make more progress in the fight against corruption and organised crime. They face export bans on certain foods, and Bulgaria has been warned that 55 of its aircraft could be grounded unless they reach EU safety standards.There are also fears about mass immigration given that both Bulgaria and Romania are much poorer than the rest of the EU.

There is some concern in Britain with predictions on how many will come to Britain varying from 56,000 to 180,000 in the first year. However others say the accession of these two countries will be nothing compared to when 10 joined in 2004. The immigration pattern of these two countries has typically been towards the Mediterranean rather than to the north and most who wanted to come to the UK would already have done so. Regardless of this the Home Office had earlier revealed its plans to limit the right to work for Bulgarians and Romanians.

The new curbs contrast with the "open-door" policy adopted in 2004, when 15,000 migrant workers were expected to arrive each year. Instead 600,000 arrived in two years. That's Labour for you!

So the questions are:

• Will these countries be a hinderance to the EU in its bid for further unity (e.g the constitution and euro)? i.e the more states you have to accomodate, the harder it gets to rule from the centre.
  
• Will the fears of mass immigration prove to be a fallacy?
• Will the two new nations gain from entry into the EU - will they be buried under new EU reqirements? there are predictions that once trade barriers are down they will fail to compete and will mis spend EU aid because their institutions are too disorganised.
  
• Will Europe gain from having Bulgaria and Romania in the EU or will they have to be carried along?
• Who will join next and under what conditions?