EC President Jose Barroso and EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn will pay a three-hour-visit to Bulgaria on May 17, a day after the decisive EU Monitoring report is presented.

After the three hours spent in Sofia the EU officials will leave for Romania. They are expected to meet Bulgaria's Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev and to hold a press conference in the capital.

On May 16 the European Commission is to announce its decisive report for the future entry of Bulgaria and Romania into the Union.

There were reports that the European Commission may decide on the entry in the autumn, still Barosso pointed out in the European Parliament "the European Commission will definitely take a decision on Bulgaria and Romania on May 16."

He said there are theoretically three options for the EU Commission to consider for its upcoming May 16 report - no recommendation, meaning the accession of one or both countries in 2007, no recommendation but the submission of a "must do" list, or a recommendation to delay of one or both to 2008.

The Financial Times earlier said Barroso's biggest concerns were over Bulgaria, "where police and judicial reforms have so far failed to yield high level prosecutions of criminal bosses or crooked politicians."

Bulgaria once led Romania in EU reforms but stumbled last year after a protracted political standoff and a failure to lay corruption charges against high-level officials or convict anyone for a string of contract murders.

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