European Union (Accessions) Bill

I have already been generous in giving way and I am keen to make a little further progress. Members on both sides of the House can be assured that we continue to make the point to the Bulgarian and Romanian Governments that more progress is necessary—and, indeed, that both countries need to be aware of the scale of the challenge that they continue to face—but we remain optimistic that they can meet the demanding requirements for membership by next year. The fact that both countries have already demonstrated a capacity to realise impressive change in a relatively short period of time supports that contention. The successful transformation of both countries from planned to market economies is perhaps the most visible and tangible evidence of progress. Since the start of the process of European integration in 1999, the gross domestic product of both countries has grown by around 25 per cent. Restructuring and the privatisation of inefficient, and in many cases bankrupt, communist state industries has taken place. Their banking industries have also been privatised and the two states have rapidly integrated themselves with western European and world markets. Indeed, the EU has been the accession countries’ main trading partner for several years now. Profound changes in the business environment have also taken place, with the creation of food standards agencies, competition regulators, labour inspectorates and even insurance market supervisors. That will, I believe, help UK firms doing business in and with those two countries. The prospect of EU membership has given a major impetus to ongoing improvements in both states’ environmental policies and their health and safety standards—[Interruption.]