Bulgaria's Council on European Integration decided on Monday that Bulgaria should present its positions on all negotiation chapters in its EU accession talks by the end of this year. It should start negotiating on all of them within the same period. This was announced by Meglena Kuneva, Bulgaria's chief negotiator with the EU.

Kuneva reiterated that so far Bulgaria has only presented its positions on 26 of the 29 chapters whereas all other countries involved in accession talks, excluding Romania, have already presented their positions on all chapters. Bulgaria has so far opened negotiations on 21 of the chapters. The government's ambition is to start negotiations on all chapters during the Belgian EU presidency.

Recently, Bulgaria prepared its position for the European Commission's annual report on its progress in accession talks. Kuneva noted that the report mainly criticized Bulgaria's economic policy, reform of the judiciary system, the fight against corruption, and development of the energy sector.

Kuneva was firm that Bulgaria was not lagging behind in its accession talks with the EU. She expressed her desire for the team that has been working with Euro-integration to be kept together.

Foreign Minister Solomon Passi announced that the deadlines for the completion of negotiations (2004) and for full membership (2006) were confirmed at the meeting. "We can't afford to go further in our optimism," he said.

"The government is committed to completing accession talks by 2004 and gaining full membership of the EU by 2006," said Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg at the beginning of the meeting. "Our progress in the talks gives us the confidence to think that Bulgaria is able to negotiate at an accelerated pace," he said.