John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)

At the meeting of the European Council in May the EU Ministers, as the Deputy is aware, deferred the decision until the autumn, to see whether Bulgaria and Romania were prepared for membership. They will review the situation at that point to determine if they will be worthy of entry on 31 January 2007. If the assessment is negative it will be put back to January 2008 but I hope they will be able to join in January 2007.

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