On 15 July 1997, in an Opinion on Romania’s application for accession to the European Union, the European Commission emphasises the progress made by the country in order to comply with the political and economic criteria. However, it considers that Romania is experiencing serious problems in transposing the Community acquis into national law and reaches the conclusion that the accession negotiations will be opened as soon as the country has made sufficient progress to meet the accession terms set by the Copenhagen European Council.