The European Commission will recommend this week that Bulgaria and Romania are fit to join the bloc in 2007 if they implement agreed reforms.
A report by the EU executive, due to be published today, proposes a "safeguard clause" that could delay the two countries' entry by one year if economic and administrative reforms stall according to Reuters.
"The Commission expects these countries to fulfil the economic and (EU legislation) criteria and to be ready to for membership by January 1, 2007," it said, giving Romania the vital "functioning market economy" tag for the first time.
The strategy paper, which must still be endorsed by EU governments in December, confirmed that entry talks with Croatia would start early next year but said they could be suspended if the former Yugoslav state breached "the principles of liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms".