Bulgaria and Romania, which expect to join the EU on January 1 2007, might experience judicial monitoring after the accession, European commissioner Franco Frattini said.

It would be useful if the upcoming European Commission report on the two countries’ reform progress contained monitoring mechanisms, Frattini said. These mechanisms will continue functioning after the accession to ease the synchronisation of policies, Dnevnik newspaper reported.

Frattini will suggest the introduction of such mechanism in June. They will be applicable for all EU member states.

The same month leaders of the EU member states have to take a decision concerning Bulgaria and Romania’s membership based on the final EC report.

In the autumn Brussels will present one more report, which will clarify whether the introduction of safeguard clauses is needed.

The last EC report from October 2005 lists judicial system and domestic order as the areas with biggest delays in reform implementation. The introduction of a safeguard clause will make decisions taken by Bulgarian courts invalid in Europe.