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
Accession of Serbia to the European Union Assistance, a funding mechanism for EU candidate countries. Kosovo's provisional government unilaterally declared independence from Serbia on 17 February 2008. This was followed by most EU countries recognising Kosovo as an independent country. These events heavily influenced the Serbian political landscape. The central topic on which the coalition partners diverged was Serbia's EU accession. On 7 November 2007, Serbia initialed a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the European Union, agreeing on the final version of the text to which no or little changes are to be made. This was the step immediately preceding the official signing that was expected