Enlargement of the European Union and "morally imperative", which reflected the desire of the EU to admit these countries as members, even though they were less developed than the Western European countries. Following this Romania and Bulgaria, though were deemed initially as not fully ready by the Commission to join in 2004, acceded nevertheless on 1 January 2007. These, like the countries joining in 2004, faced a series of restrictions as to their citizens not fully enjoying working rights on the territory of some of the older EU members. Bulgaria and Romania are not yet members of the Schengen area; however, their citizens can travel
Member state of the European Union countries of Austria, Finland and Sweden acceded to the new European Union, though Switzerland, which applied in 1992, froze its application due to opposition from voters while Norway, which had applied once more, had its voters reject membership again. Meanwhile, the members of the former Eastern Bloc and Yugoslavia were all starting to move towards EU membership. Eight of these, plus Cyprus and Malta, joined in a major enlargement on 1 May 2004 symbolising the unification of East and Western Europe in the EU. They were followed by Bulgaria and Romania in 2007, then Croatia in 2013. The EU has