The addition of the two countries brings 30 million more people to the EU and expands the number of member states to twenty-seven.
At the same time, Slovenia has become the latest country to join the euro zone, in a move that Prime Minister Janez Jansa has called the “biggest national achievement” since the tiny nation of 2 million joined the EU in 2004.
Meanwhile, in December, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, UNMIK/Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, and Romania signed the expanded Central European Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in Bucharest.
The FTA consolidates 32 existing bilateral FTAs, assists non-World Trade Organization (WTO) countries to prepare for membership, and leads to the closer economic cooperation that will facilitate accession to the European Union.


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