Estonia, Bulgaria back EU's further expansion

SOFIA, Bulgaria: Estonia and Bulgaria said Tuesday that the European Union's enlargement should not end with the entry of Bulgaria and Romania on Jan. 1.

"We would like to go on with the further enlargement of the union," Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip told reporters in Sofia after meeting Bulgarian counterpart Sergei Stanishev. Estonia was one of 10 countries, most of them eastern European, that joined the EU in 2004.

"The perspective of further expansion should not be lost," Stanishev said.