TARICEANU SAYS BULGARIA WEIGHS HEAVY UPON ROMANIA

Romania's prime minister openly blamed Bulgaria's shortcomings for the decision of the European Commission not to give his country an unconditional date for EU entry.

It is very likely that the EC decided not to fix a clear date for Romania EU accession because of, among other things, the problems in Bulgaria, Calin Popescu-Tariceanu told the state-rung TV channel Tuesday evening.

He declined to make further comments out of "political and diplomatic reasons", but said the European Commission made it clear that Romania was ahead of Bulgaria.