The European Commission announced Tuesday in Strasbourg that Bulgaria and Romania would join the European Union in January, instead of a year later as suggested by some, but has set unprecedented conditions for what will become the union's 26th and 27th members.

The decision, due to be approved by EU member states in October, lists reforms the Balkan neighbors must complete to avoid losing full membership benefits, including billions in subsidies and aid.

"Enlargement fatigue" setting in

Membership for Bulgaria and Romania was not postponed until 2008 because some officials feared that this could humiliate the countries, which signed accession treaties in 2005, and lead to an anti-EU backlash.

While stating that the countries had improved enough to warrant accession in 2007, the Commission also maintained that further improvement is expected.

The countries will have to provide evidence of progress in areas of particular concern to the EU, including corruption, administration of subsidies, food safety and combating organized crime.

The EU would halt expansion following the accession of the two Balkan states, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Monday.

"It would be unwise to bring in other member states, apart from Romania and Bulgaria, before we've sorted out the whole institutional issue," Barroso. "We've got to a point in time where this issue has become increasingly pressing."

Constitution question resurfaces

While the president's comments seem to have shut the door on EU hopefuls like Croatia and Turkey, they also mean a renewed focus on resolving the constitution issue, which had been postponed after the treaty was rejected last year by France and the Netherlands.

The EU's current steering document, the Nice Treaty, allows for 27 member states. After the union grew to 25 in 2004, Bulgaria and Romania are set to fill the last two available slots before the European institutions have to be revised.

Germany, which is to take over the rotating six-month EU presidency in January, has said it will make the constitutional revision a top priority during its term. Though EU member states are aiming for consensus on the treaty by the end of 2008, ratification of a new text could take much longer, the EUObserver reported.

Reservations about further enlargement

Romania and Bulgaria are set to join the 25-member bloc at a time of weakening support in some EU states for further enlargement and fears of a flood of new job-seeking migrants.

Most member states are expected to impose restrictions on workers from the two newcomers, as they did when 10 mainly eastern European countries joined in 2004.

Britain, which allowed unrestricted access last time, has warned that it is likely to put a cap on immigrants from Bulgaria and Romania, after half a million eastern Europeans have entered the country since 2004.

Romania's Prime Minister Calin Tariceanu, in an interview published Monday, said entry into the European Union will not spark a wave of mass emigration and appealed to current EU member states to keep their borders open.

"Free movement of workers should be respected by all member states," he said.

Romania, with a population of 22 million, will become the seventh most populous state in the bloc. Together with Bulgaria, a country of 8 million, it will be the poorest member state. Per capita output amounts to barely one-third of the EU average.

Continued corruption raises concern

As part of their accession agreement, Bulgaria and Romania will be obliged to turn in a 'progress report' about improvements in these areas every six months. If progress isn't evident, EU aid will be withdrawn.

Insufficient administration preparation could lead to cuts in agricultural subsidies, for example, and reductions in agricultural exports may result if inadequate veterinary controls persist.

The judicial system, particularly in Bulgaria, is another area that needs attention, according to reports, and a stop on judicial cooperation with other members could be enforced if underlying corruption remains.

"It is a very tense period. We are in the delivery year. But I believe out country will prove that we can and will be good members of the European Union," said Bulgaria's Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev.