ЕU COMMISSION BRIEFED MEDIA ON 2007 ENTRY FOR ROMANIA AND BULGARIA

Several news agencies and the BBC have had access Friday night to the draft report concerning Romania and Bulgaria, four days ahead of the publication of the text.

In an attempt to test the public opinion in the EU, the Brussels executive leaked to these media parts of the information to be published on 26 September in Brussels.

According to this, Romania and Bulgaria would be able to cope with the EU integration from 1 January 2007 but their entry may be accompanied by "appropriate measures", the former "safeguard clauses".

"Bulgaria and Romania have made further progress to complete their preparations for membership, demonstrating their capacity to apply EU principles and legislation from 1 January 2007," said the draft text published by Reuters.

"Romania and Bulgaria risk food export bans and cuts to EU funds". They will also be checked on corruption and judicial reform in some of the EU's toughest-ever entry conditions", BBC writes.

And an article published by The Telegraph quotes EU Justice commissioner Franco Frattini as saying that the EU Commission had decided "it was not necessary" to impose immediate safeguards on Romania and Bulgaria.

This refers to the fact that Brussels decided to monitor Romania and Bulgaria after their EU entry and to decide by Summer whether to trigger these measures or not.

‘Asked why he rejected interim safeguards to be imposed at the start, Frattini said: "It is not necessary. [Instead] we will establish a mechanism to closely help Bulgaria and Romania in terms of training and assisting judges and prosecutors.", The Telegraph writes.

For many years, the EU executive has leaked to the European media parts of sensitive documents ahead of publication.

The crucial and last "comprehensive monitoring" reports on Romania and Bulgaria make no exception.