Bulgaria keeps January 1, 2007 a feasible target date for EU accession, the country's foreign ministry said, reacting to the critical stance voiced by Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn at the beginning of the week.

Though conceding that the preliminary assessment was more positive to Romania, Bulgaria's foreign ministry stressed on the fact that Olli Rehn did not explicitly name separate dates for accession or the need for enforcement of a safeguard clause for Bulgaria.

"Bulgaria must prepare very well for the upcoming visit of Olli Rehn on May 16 and prove its achievements," Deputy Foreign Minister Evgeniya Koldanova told journalists.


Koldanova assured that Sofia will not hold talks on an eventual split of the package with Romania before a definitive ruling by the European Commission.

"What European institutions want are reforms put in practice and tangible results," the minister said, adding that Bulgaria stumbles in the implementation of legislation.

In the preliminary assessment that Olli Rehn presented late on Monday, he said that regarding the key reform of the judiciary Romania made "significant progress" while for Bulgaria he found that "progress was limited".

This was also the first time when Brussels hinted that Bulgaria and Romania, seen so far as a package for the 2007 enlargement, could be split.

"In the event of the 2007 accession of one or two countries, we would we then address more precisely any possible corrective action that may be needed as of January 2007 in order to ensure sound accession," Rehn said.

Sofia, seen so far as leading ahead of Bucharest in EU reforms, stumbled in the final line to EU entry after failing to prosecute high-level corruption or convict anyone for a string of murders in the raging turf war.

In a bid to appease Brussels, Bulgaria amended its constitution last week by cutting the threshold of immunity enjoyed by deputies and giving parliament the right to sack the chief prosecutor and heads of the civil and supreme courts.

Unlike Bulgaria, Romania launched an anti-corruption campaign, within which prosecutors charged former Prime Minister Adrian Nastase.

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