Bulgaria: membership application and partnership, 14 December 1995

By adopting the report of Mrs. Magda AELVOET (Greens, B), the committee r committee welcomed the efforts made by Bulgaria to meet the Copenhagen criteria in the political and economic fields and the integration of the Community acquis. The Commission's progress report is seen as broadly positive, with the result that the pre-accession strategy may be regarded as having been successfully implemented. However, the committee stresses the importance of the work that still remains to be done in certain key areas. It attaches particular importance to the field of energy and strongly insists that the Bulgarian Government fulfils its undertakings regarding the closure of the Kozoloduy power plant. The committee stresses the need for a dynamic accession process, covering all the countries with which the EU has signed a Europe Agreement and not to a priori exclude any candidate. As a consequence, each candidate country has the right to be judged on the same basic criteria and on its own achievements. Lastly, the committee reiterates that it is only in making full use of the existing instruments (Europe Agreements, accession partnerships) that mutual cooperation can develop between the EU and Bulgaria.�