EU to Rap Bulgaria, Romania on Corruption, Crime

`The overall message will be that while there has been progress, there are still shortcomings,` a source familiar with the report said.

The European Commission will criticise Bulgaria and Romania next week for slow progress on fighting corruption and crime but will refrain from punishing the European Union newcomers, an EU source said on Friday.

The EU executive's interim report on reforms of justice and home affairs systems in the two Black Sea countries will say both need to combat high-level corruption more aggressively and that Bulgaria has done little to tackle organised crime.

"The overall message will be that while there has been progress, there are still shortcomings," a source familiar with the report said.

The bigger Romania is slow on prosecuting senior officials for corruption. "We see procedural ping-pong between various bodies, resulting in delays," the official said.

"For Bulgaria, the focus is on organised crime," the official said, adding Romania had much less of a problem.

The two countries that joined the EU in 2007 will escape any EU punitive action for now.

Under the accession treaty, EU states may refuse automatic recognition, and enforcement, of civil and criminal judgments and arrest warrants issued by Romania or Bulgaria unless they move towards meeting certain judicial standards.

The next, fuller progress report is due in July. The EU may trigger punitive measures at any time until the end of 2009.

According to international watchdogs, the two countries have the worst corruption problems in the EU which prompted some Western diplomats to oppose admitting them so soon.