The report on Bulgaria's progress in its fight against organised crime and corruption was expected to be a critical report.

Bulgarian daily Dnevnik said it had learned this from a Bulgarian diplomat in Brussels.

Criticism on its progress in the fights against corruption and organised crime would be the centre of the report, but it would not be the only point of criticism. The report would note what had been achieved, but also signal where Brussels had expected more, Dnevnik quoted its source as saying.

It was not clear if the report would also include recent cases like the Kujovic row or the corruption and conflict of interest cases within the National Road Infrastructure Fund (NRIF).

On January 27, spokesperson of the European Commission Mark Gray, quoted by BTA, said that European funding for road infrastructure projects for Bulgaria would be frozen "until Bulgaria shows that it can deal with the problems in this area." Late last week, Brussels froze EU funding for road infrastructure projects in Bulgaria after conflicts of interest of the head of the NRIF had been uncovered and two directors of the fund had been arrested on accusations of corruption. Gray said that the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) would investigate the case.

The report was almost ready and now was "undergoing last corrections in text and tone."

A repeat of the scenario of June 2007 could not be excluded, experts said. The first draft of the report then had a very sharp tone but at the last moment Brussels softened the report after it was evaluated by commissioners.

The new report was expected later this week, with EU member states evaluation scheduled for February 6.