Minutes after the findings in the 2006 monitoring report were released in Strasbourg, Bulgarian EU-Affairs Minister said her country could get into the European Union on 1 January 2007.

Meglena Kuneva told Bulgarian National Television (BNT): "There are 227 days left, we can make it".

She assessed the assessment of the European Commission on Bulgarian progress as objective and drafted with the sole purpose to urge Sofia to go ahead with the reforms.

Kuneva, who is a lawyer by profession, explained that the lack of recommendation on one-year delay by the EC actually means a confirmation of the target date - 1 January 2007, but "we are those who should deliver the final confirmation".

The report's overall tone of "delay" on the decision whether Bulgaria and Romania will be allowed to be EU members next year means that the EU leaders would not tackle this issue in the coming Spring Summit, Kuneva added.

She talked with more caution than her Romanian counterpart, Anca Daniela Boagiu, reflecting the more critical judgement that Bulgaria received in Brussels' report on serious crime-fighting and corruption backlogs.

The Bulgarian minister characterised Tuesday's report as "correct," "very supportive," and "a roadmap for further efforts."

She invited commission officials to "physically" be present in the office of her country's Chief Prosecutor Boris Velchev for a longer period "to witness our efforts."

The burden now falls on Finland's EU Presidency, during the second half of the year, which is to evaluate Bulgaria and Romania's progress "no later than early October", in the words of EC President Jose Barroso.

In the autumn report, however, Brussels could still recommend that member states postpone the scheduled EU entry with one year, from January 2007 to January 2008, if entry preparations fail.

Bulgaria and Romania "should be prepared to join next year provided they meet the [EU] conditions," the commission chief also said. "The rules of the club must be respected," Barroso reminded from the EPs' rostrum.

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