Gingerbread cake for EU newcomers

Romania's leaders said they had made huge sacrifices to join

The European Union has held ceremonies in Brussels to welcome Bulgaria and Romania, which will join the bloc in just over two weeks' time.

The historic event was celebrated in unusual style, with what was described as the world's largest gingerbread cake - in the shape of a map of Europe.

The Romanian and Bulgarian leaders added templates of their countries to the map.

The European Commission president said it was "a moment of European pride".

"To the 30 million Bulgarian and Romanian new European citizens who will join us on 1 January, the Commission and I today send a very simple message: We are very happy to receive you into our common house and we welcome you," Jose Manuel Barroso said.

'Hard and bumpy' path

But EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn warned people not to be deceived.

"Unlike the huge gingerbread map might suggest, adding two new members into the map of the EU has not been a piece of cake," he joked.

"The two countries have indeed worked very hard to fulfil the criteria and the European Commission has worked hard to ensure they worked hard," he added.

Romanian President Traian Basescu said his country had made "16 years of sacrifice".

"In 16 years we have learned an extremely important lesson of Europe, that is solidarity," he was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying.

"It is very difficult for someone outside of the candidate countries to know how hard and bumpy our way to accession was," added Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev.

The makers of the gingerbread believe it is the biggest ever, at 3m x 3m (10ft x 10ft), and have submitted it for entry in the Guinness Book of Records.