The attention was placed on the consecutive EU enlargement. Less than a month before the report of the European Commission and the summit of EU Heads of States, the guests made a commitment of lobbying for the accession of Bulgaria to the EU and identified themselves as a "strong team of friends". The EU respect for the date 1st January 2007 decided during the EU Presidency of Denmark is very important from the political point of view.

"The hypothetical implementation of a safeguard clause or a monitoring mechanism should not tarnsih the fact that Bulgaria has achieved real and siginificant progress despite the diffcult starting point" stated the Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Ramussen. "EU countries are equal and the application of safeguard mechanisms cannot breach the principle, " he added.

"The general public had not been informed about the lengthy and difficult negotiations preceding the latest enlargement; hence it is admissible that the affiliation of ten new members simultaneously was reckless in their opinion" said Annemie Neyts, Chair Person of the ELDR.

After the meeting, Mrs. Annemie Neyts stated that the ELDR supports the speediest accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU, though the two countries have to fulfill the necessary requirements. "We know that much work has been done, and we appreciate it. We believe that in their interests the two applicant countries will prepare well" she added.

Mrs. Annemie Neyts warned that the EU has to be ready for membership by the 1st of January next year, although with certain safeguard clauses. "There is nothing fatal" Mrs. Neyts said and reminded that safeguard clauses had been applied to three of the present key member countries - Spain, Portugal and Greece.

Mr. Simeon Saxe-Coburg Gotha said that during the two-day meeting the issue of the future Bulgarian Commissioner in the EU was not explicitly discussed. Mrs. Annemie Neyts stressed that this is an internal matter, but the person appointed to the position has to possess proven experience in dealing with the representatives of the European Union.

"It is necessary to make still quite some efforts to prepare Bulgaria and Romania for a full membership, but we are impatiently expecting them on the 1st of January" were the words of the Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen at the closing briefing.