Bulgaria takes the 48th position in the Reporters Without Borders 2005 press freedom ranking.

The press freedom gap between EU member states is widening, according to the report. Poland is among the countries that went 20 places down in the ranking due to fines imposed on journalists in the country.

Spain also ranks poorly with its 40th position. Journalists in the country continued receiving threats from ETA militants throughoput 2005, the report said.

Countries, applying for EU membership also failed to perform well. The report said that despite efforts, freedom of the press has not been fully established in Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania.

Bulgaria ranks highest among the three countries. Croatia takes the 56th place, while Romania ranks 70th.

Reporters Without Borders strongly criticises the attack against Bulgarian investigative journalist Vassil Ivanov.

A bomb went off in front of Ivanov's apartment on April 5 2006.

Ivanov is well-known for his corruption-exposing reports. The Nova television journalist said he is aware of the causes of the attack.