If Bulgaria and Romania entered the EU on January 1 2007 as scheduled 'a number of accompanying measures will be difficult to avoid',  Bloomberg quoted European Commission’s (EC) spokesperson Christina Nagy.

Nagy refused to comment the measures, Bloomberg said.

Less than 50 per cent of the 450 million citizens of EU countries supported the union enlargement,  surveys showed. People were afraid of 'increase in economic uncertainty because of low-wage competition', a Centre for European Reform representative said.

According to Reuters, it was more probable that Bulgaria and Romania join the EU in January 2007 but under unprecedented conditions. The other option was their EU accession to be postponed until 2008.

The two countries achieved progress in their preparation to join the EU, but the union was concerned about corruption, organised crime and food safety standards in the two countries, Reuters said.

EC will release its report on Bulgaria and Romania's readiness to join the EU on September 26.

EU officials refrained from revealing the contents of the report, but said that it would be positive for the two countries, the Institute for War an Piece reported.

“The decision-making process has been completed. Bulgaria and Romania will join on January 1”, the institute quoted European commissioner for industry Guenter Verheugen as saying.