Bulgaria's former prime minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg made an attempt to assuage Europe's fears over the country's preparedness for EU accession in an interview for German Die Welt.

The Berlin-based newspaper made front-page headlines here last week after claiming that Bulgaria, a state that declares to be committed to the rule of law, is actually ruled by the underworld.

"Not a single country around the world is absolutely free of graft-prone practices. The cases must be viewed separately and precisely, with the awareness that they do not present the whole image of Bulgaria," Simeon Saxe-Coburg told Die Welt.

Simeon Saxe-Coburg, who has been the visible absence on Bulgaria's political scene since his election defeat last year, is positive the country will accede as scheduled on January 1, 2007.

"We rely very much on Germany's support for our EU entry in 2007 and decided that we'd better skip the world football championship in Germany this year," he joked when asked why the Bulgarian football team failed to qualify for the championship.

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