September 26, 2006 - The final stage in the EU’s historic “big bang” enlargement of 2004 was completed today when the European commission announced that Romania and Bulgaria would be allowed to join on January 1 next year.
(The Guardian)
There used to be a time when the entry of new member states in the EU/EEC was subject to popular debates, both in the candidate countries and in the existing member countries. The most spectacular debates took place in Norway where the population rejected membership in 1972, and the same year in France where the French withdrew their opposition to the entry of Great Britain in the then-EEC. And when the UK entered the EEC on January 1 1973, together with Ireland and Denmark, it was actually a festive occasion.