•  Third, notwithstanding progress in privatization in recent years, the share of the private sector in GDP remains lower in the region than in those Member States that joined the EU in 2004. •  Last but not least, progress with structural reforms in the area of factor markets and in the judiciary has remained uneven.
I have no doubt that the EU association and accession process will continue to have a significant beneficial impact on reform efforts in the region. In the case of Bulgaria and Romania, EU accession has contributed to an improvement of indicators of economic reform,  BIS Review 89/2007  1  governance and the business environment.