Consultations were held Tuesday evening in Brussels between the Bulgarian chief negotiator with the European Union, Meglena Kuneva, and representatives of the European Commission. They focused on the annual report on Bulgaria's progress in its preparation for accession into the EU that the EC will release in November.

"We presented information on the work that has been done in the past three months," Kuneva said. She told the enlargement directorate chief Eneko Landaburu, EC negotiator with Bulgaria Micheal Leigh, and other experts involved in the accession talks with Bulgaria, that there is continuity on Euro-integration issues between the former and the current governments.

"It is important to us to preserve the administrative capacity for work in this respect so that the pace of accession talks can be maintained and accelerated," Kuneva said. She did not give a specific answer to whether the Bulgarian side is rethinking the accession deadline it has set for itself. "I think this is an issue that should be debated within the Cabinet and the opinions of a number of experts should be taken into account."

Kuneva said Bulgaria should finalize its efforts in three areas - the fight against corruption, reforming the judiciary system and building an energy strategy.

The European Commission is working on its position for the negotiations with Bulgaria on the agriculture policy chapter of the acquis and hopes it will be ready by the end of 2001, EU agriculture and fisheries commissioner Franz Fischler said after meeting Bulgarian Agriculture Minister Mehmed Dikme.

Officials from the commission said that Bulgarian agricultural production needs to be competitive on the European market and the Bulgarian administration must be ready to introduce all relevant EU legislation in this field before the country is eligible for accession.

Dikme admitted that a lot of work needs to be done but added that Bulgaria is on the right track in its preparations for accession.

Fischler congratulated Bulgaria on its success with the SAPARD program and on the progress made in the sector.