Dissatisfaction with corruption, organised crime and political foot-dragging in Bulgaria and Romania is running deep in older European Union member states as well as in Brussels itself. But EU policymakers say that because Bulgaria and Romania are full members of the 27-nation bloc, the EU has few hard instruments at its disposal to compel its two newest and poorest entrants to raise their standards.

In the months before Bulgaria and Romania joined in January 2007, the EU found itself in a trap, in which it sensed they were not ready for membership, but could not delay their entry without reneging on earlier promises and damaging the EU’s reputation.