The European Commission has announced that Romania and Bulgaria are set to join the European Union at the beginning of 2007. It truly is an historic achievement; something that bodes well for the future of the two countries and the continent as a whole.

The European Commission has announced that Romania and Bulgaria will be admitted to the EU in January 2007, but under strict conditions.

Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said both countries had made enough progress to join the union.

But they will be checked for progress in curbing organised crime and corruption, and ensuring food safety and the proper use of EU funds.

Bulgaria’s PM said the move was the fall of the Berlin Wall for his nation.

Romanian Prime Minister Calin Tariceanu said his people should be proud of themselves, but should not make the mistake of thinking that accession would mean all the country’s problems would be solved.

The article makes a lot of fuss about the large amount of restrictions put on Romania and Bulgaria — unprecedented for EU member countries. But it makes sense. They have a lot of institutional reform to undergo. Corruption still reaches throughout society, schools need to be improved, child trafficking needs to be combated, along with a whole host of other things. They may become members, but they are not equal in terms of quality of governance, and so they will not be treated as equals.

However, there is a lot of good news. They will get many of the same benefits that southern Europe — countries like Spain and Portugal — got when they were accepted to the European Union. They will get tons of subsidies to help boost their economies, professionals to help train the civil services, and more. Today, Spain is a thriving democracy, because it rejected the ways of its past partly because the incentives of EU membership were so great. Bulgaria and Romania will be the same in time.