Bulgaria and Romania are the only two of the 12 candidate countries that definitely will not be included in the next enlargement of the EU in 2004.

"I would very much like to see Bulgaria and Romania in the EU in 2004, but we all know that there is no chance at all of this happening," said EU enlargement commissioner Guenter Verheugen on Tuesday. His comments came after he familiarized the members of the European Parliament with the results of the European Commission's annual reports on the progress of candidate countries. Verheugen pointed out that this assessment was not his but that of the two countries, which themselves target accession in 2006-07.

However, Verheugen said the Commission wrote in its reports that when it identifies the countries which are in a position to complete negotiations at the end of 2002, it will create an updated road map for the rest of the candidates and, if necessary, a revised pre-accession strategy for them. It appeared that the only two countries that will not be able to complete negotiations in 2002 are Bulgaria and Romania.

"The conclusions in the report confirm Bulgaria's schedule for completing negotiations in 2003 and obtaining full membership by the end of 2006," the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry said in an official statement on Wednesday. The statement said that a differentiated enlargement criteria and assessment is crucial in deciding at the end of next year which countries are ready for accession. The government has said in the past that it does not want to be grouped with Romania.

The European Commission said in its report that Bulgaria has made tangible progress in its preparation for EU membership. "Bulgaria is getting close to achieving a functioning market economy that can, in the short-term, withstand the competitive pressure of the pan-European market if the government persists with its efforts," the report said.

The Commission also found progress in anti-corruption strategy and judicial reforms, but noted it was very important that they were applied in practice, and pointed to the judicial administration as continuing to be weak.

The report also states that despite the work that has been done so far in integrating the Roma into society more effort is still needed.

The harmonization of Bulgarian and EU law is proceeding smoothly but there should be more emphasis on the practical application of such legislation.

The report also states that Bulgaria needs to honour the commitments that it has made to close the first four units of the Kozlodui Nuclear Power Plant.