The Balkans:Romania and Bulgaria woke yesterday to life in the European Union, as January 1st brought 30 million new people into the bloc, extended its borders to the Black Sea and raised fears in some member states of a new influx of migrant workers.
Both Balkan states spent millions of euros on spectacular parties, and the skies over their major cities were filled with fireworks, laser shows and thumping music from open-air concerts, as hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to greet 2007 and celebrate becoming the 26th and 27th members of the EU.
"It was hard, but we arrived at the end of the road. It is the road of our future. It is the road of our joy," Romanian president Traian Basescu told a crowd on Bucharest's University Square, which has been the heart of the city's new year celebrations since the 1989 revolution that toppled dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.
"By entering the EU, we win our peace and our prosperity," Mr Basescu told the revellers, before counting down the last 10 seconds to midnight.
"We arrived in Europe. Welcome to Europe!" Mr Basescu said, as midnight struck and fireworks erupted across the city, in huge official displays and smaller salvos from the courtyards and balconies of Bucharest's ubiquitous tower blocks.
In Sofia, five rays of light beamed from the city's biggest Christian Orthodox cathedral, its main Catholic church, mosque, synagogue and Armenian church, forming a glowing pyramid intended to symbolise Bulgaria's multi-ethnic society and history.
Bulgarian president Georgi Parvanov called the country's accession to the EU, after long and arduous reform, a "heavenly moment".
"The day we are welcoming, January 1st, 2007, will undoubtedly find its place among the most important dates in our national history," Mr Parvanov said in an address to the nation.
"But let's make it clear - our future success as a nation depends not on European funds and resources, but on our own work."
In Sofia, many people wore ribbons to show solidarity with five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death in Libya for infecting more than 400 children with HIV, despite strong evidence that the infections were caused by poor hospital hygiene.
"We will go on fighting for the release of the nurses and we will then celebrate together with them," prime minister Sergei Stanishev told crowds in central Sofia.
In a message played to the crowds at open-air parties in Romania and Bulgaria, European Commission president José Manuel Barroso hailed the start of 2007 as "a historic day to celebrate".
"I congratulate the people and leaders of Bulgaria and Romania for the courage, determination and work in preparing for membership."
In Bucharest, most revellers dismissed predictions that the accession of two more former communist nations to the EU would spark a westward exodus of young talent.
"I want to stay here. If I can't make it at home, I won't make it anywhere," said Razvan Popescu, a tourism student at the University of Bucharest.
"I would like to stay here and make a business with European Union funds," he said. "We are not expecting a miracle - people know the EU is not a land of dreams."
The average Romanian earns about €300 a month, and the average Bulgarian €200, making them the poorest people in the EU and increasing fears that hundreds of thousands would head for countries like Ireland and Britain seeking work, just as Poles did after joining the bloc with seven other ex-communist states in 2004.
But while Poles were fleeing 15-20 per cent unemployment at home, the economies of Romania and Bulgaria are booming, joblessness is low and labour shortages are forcing firms to hire workers from China, Turkey, Ukraine and Moldova.
"Most people who wanted to leave have already gone," said Ionel Danca, chief editor of Romania's Euroliderpolitical magazine. "I don't think we will see a big change now - in fact, many people might see opportunities here and come home after spending years abroad."
Mihail Arghiropol, who works for a Bucharest advertising firm, said Romanians from poor, rural regions might head west, but there would be no brain drain.
"The biggest mistake now would be to leave," he said. "The market is saturated abroad and lots of multinationals are coming here. For us, the future is Romania."
Olli Rehn, the EU's enlargement commissioner, was in the Transylvanian town of Sibiu, to mark the start of its term as a European capital of culture.The picturesque town was built by German settlers in the 12th century.