The 2007 EU enlargement was unlike the others, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) said in a series of articles dedicated to Bulgaria and Romania.

Bulgaria's accession on January 1 2007 would be 'second class,' DPA said.

Europe would welcome the new members 'without festive fireworks' because never in the EU history had a country become member, while failing to meet a number of accession requirements.

Corruption, mafia and inexpensive vacations at the Black Sea coast featured among the items Europeans associated with Bulgaria, the report said.

Bulgarians preferred to see their country as a crossroad of ancient cultures and rose oil homeland, DPA said. They were proud of their Thracian gold treasures and football stars and blamed 'corrupted and selfish' politicians for all problems.

One of the articles is dedicated to the fact that Bulgaria would take Latvia's place as the poorest EU member. Bulgaria's GDP totalled 2600 euro  per capita in 2005, DPA said.