Warsaw was urged to tackle corruption

The reports will also provide encouragement for Slovakia, which began negotiations only this year, and will welcome progress achieved in Bulgaria.

Romania however will be singled out for criticism for the slow pace of economic reforms and insufficient improvement in the living conditions of its 100,000 abandoned children.

And there will be a strong warning to all the EU hopefuls that they cannot take corruption lightly.

During a recent trip to Poland, the European enlargement commissioner Guenter Verheugen described corruption as a cancer that spreads unless it is tackled energetically.

Candidate countries will be told to improve the training and pay of their civil servants, and to strengthen their judiciaries, after half a century of communist rule.

Further delays

But on the key issues of accession dates, a strategy paper will simply recommend that the EU should conclude negotiations with the most advanced countries during the course of 2002.

It does not specify which these countries are.

Taking into account the lengthy ratification procedures, EU officials believe that no new members can realistically expect to join before 2004 or 2005.