SOFIA, Bulgaria, April 25 (UPI) -- Bulgarians and Romanians celebrated Monday as their countries signed a treaty with the European Union that should see accession in 2007.
To mark the occasion, all babies born in Bulgaria Monday will be given medals inscribed with the words: "Eurobaby 2005".
Hundreds of balloons were set free and schoolchildren made daisy chains with their Romanian counterparts, whose country signed the accession treaty alongside Bulgaria in Luxembourg.
Bulgaria and Romania were unlikely candidates for membership of the European Union just five years ago. But both countries' governments have made determined efforts not to be left too far behind the eight former communist countries from central and eastern Europe which joined the European Union in May 2004.
However, even as the two countries signed the accession documents there was a stark reminder from Germany of the mixed reception they will get from some of the more established European Union members.
In a letter to German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder published in Der Spiegel magazine, Bavarian Prime Minister Edmund Stoiber urged a revision of the accession treaties to protect German jobs from cheap labor from the two countries.
