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
European Trade Union Confederation and the EU Semester The ETUC was established in 1973, to coordinate and represent workers and their trade unions at European level, and has grown as more countries have joined the EU. Its membership now goes beyond the 28 Member States. At present, the ETUC represents almost 45 million workers across Europe, belonging to 89 national trade union confederations from 39 European countries, and 10 European Industry Federations. Within the ETUC, the Women’s Committee and Youth Committee represent the interests of these two groups of members. The ETUC has set up UnionMigrantNet, with a network of trade union contact points