SOFIA, May 31 (Xinhua) -- Romania is pushing for the European Commission’s (EC) progress report into its hoped-for accession to European Union (EU) to be ready by September, the Bulgarian Telegraphic Agency (BTA) quoted Romanian Justice Minister MonicaLuisa Macovei as saying on Wednesday.
Macovei said her country would request earlier preparation of the report so EU members would have time to deliberate on it, BTA said.
Macovei made the remarks after she met with her Bulgarian counterpart Georgi Petkanov and Bulgaria's Prosecutor General Boris Velchev, BTA said.
In a keenly awaited earlier progress report released on May 16, the EU executive said Bulgaria and Romania would have to wait until this October to find out whether they could join the bloc in 2007, or be made to wait another year.
Seventeen EU members have ratified the accession treaty of Bulgaria and Romania, according to BTA.
Since the commission's progress report in October 2005, Bulgaria has reduced the number of red flags, or "areas of serious concern" to six, down from 16. Romania has four remaining problem areas.
The two Balkan countries are due to join the EU in 2008 at the latest. Enditem
