BULGARIA must push ahead with a programme of reforms if it wants to join the European Union, the Danish presidency said Tuesday.
Welcoming Bulgarias Minister for European Affairs Meglena Kuneva and Justice Minister Anton Stankov, Denmarks Minister for European Affairs Bertel Haarder, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the EU, said Bulgaria had already made good progress towards its aim of joining the bloc.
I received confirmation that Bulgaria had made good progress in its preparations to accession to the EU, but some work still remains to be done before Bulgaria can become a member state, Haarder said in a statement.
My message to the two Bulgarian ministers was that Denmark, as the member state holding the EU presidency will not forget Bulgaria. Even though the country will not be able to complete the accession negotiations during the Danish EU presidency, Bulgaria is still part of the enlargement process.
The Copenhagen EU Council will assure the people of Bulgaria that the enlargement process continues, also after up to 10 countries have acceded to the EU, Haarder said.
The EU summit hosted by Denmark in December is intended to decide the accession fate of the 10 most advanced candidate states - Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.
If all goes according to plan, the states will become fully-fledged EU members in 2004 and help to forge a giant bloc of 25 members reaching from the Arctic Circle to the Mediterranean, Agence France Presse said.
The European summit in Copenhagen will back the Bulgarian population in its moves to join the enlargement process, even after the entry of the 10 new member countries, Haarder said.
Following the legislative amendments adopted by Bulgaria to improve its judicial system, its problems in this area did not differ greatly from those in the other EU candidate countries, Kuneva said in an interview with Bulgarian National Radio on Tuesday.
Kuneva said that justice, home affairs and European policies regarding refugees were among Denmarks priorities as EU president. Negotiations on the Justice and Home Affairs Chapter were nearing completion but this could not happen overnight, Kuneva said.
Bulgaria could demonstrate a clear vision in this field and when the time came for this country to join the EU, Bulgarias judicial system would be in no way inferior, and in some ways maybe even better than the judicial systems of some of the older EU members, she said.
Welcoming Bulgarias Minister for European Affairs Meglena Kuneva and Justice Minister Anton Stankov, Denmarks Minister for European Affairs Bertel Haarder, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the EU, said Bulgaria had already made good progress towards its aim of joining the bloc.
I received confirmation that Bulgaria had made good progress in its preparations to accession to the EU, but some work still remains to be done before Bulgaria can become a member state, Haarder said in a statement.
My message to the two Bulgarian ministers was that Denmark, as the member state holding the EU presidency will not forget Bulgaria. Even though the country will not be able to complete the accession negotiations during the Danish EU presidency, Bulgaria is still part of the enlargement process.
The Copenhagen EU Council will assure the people of Bulgaria that the enlargement process continues, also after up to 10 countries have acceded to the EU, Haarder said.
The EU summit hosted by Denmark in December is intended to decide the accession fate of the 10 most advanced candidate states - Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.
If all goes according to plan, the states will become fully-fledged EU members in 2004 and help to forge a giant bloc of 25 members reaching from the Arctic Circle to the Mediterranean, Agence France Presse said.
The European summit in Copenhagen will back the Bulgarian population in its moves to join the enlargement process, even after the entry of the 10 new member countries, Haarder said.
Following the legislative amendments adopted by Bulgaria to improve its judicial system, its problems in this area did not differ greatly from those in the other EU candidate countries, Kuneva said in an interview with Bulgarian National Radio on Tuesday.
Kuneva said that justice, home affairs and European policies regarding refugees were among Denmarks priorities as EU president. Negotiations on the Justice and Home Affairs Chapter were nearing completion but this could not happen overnight, Kuneva said.
Bulgaria could demonstrate a clear vision in this field and when the time came for this country to join the EU, Bulgarias judicial system would be in no way inferior, and in some ways maybe even better than the judicial systems of some of the older EU members, she said.
