The 10 members have been warned to take immediate action

In a series of reports adopted on Wednesday, Poland is named as the worst prepared of the 10 prospective members.

Many have already made changes, but the reports show areas of serious concern, where all 10 must take decisive action.

The areas of concern cover a range of issues where the new members are judged not to come up to EU standards on issues as diverse as food hygiene, farm inventories and even the compatibility of international ports.

The commission is right in saying that there is plenty of work between today and 1 May 2004 Jaroslaw Pietras Polish Government minister

Poland's nine areas to tackle include organisation of farm subsidies, a clampdown on the danger of mad cow disease, fighting corruption and making changes to the fishing industry.

Many dairy and meat plants may have to close if they do not get a clean bill of health.

Tiny Slovenia comes top of the group, with only one major shortcoming listed.

The commission's reports highlight some 40 areas which need "immediate and decisive action" before the countries will be allowed to join.

Strict rules

"We are going to be extremely firm on the principle," said European Commission spokesman Jean-Christophe Filori.

"Those establishments that don't meet EU standards will not be able to sell their products in the EU."

Areas of concern Poland: nine Malta: six Latvia: five Czech Republic: four Hungary: four Slovakia: four Estonia: three Lithuania: two Slovenia: one Cyprus: three EU concerns

Delays in setting up the proper systems to handle EU funds could lose Polish farmers billions of euros.

But Poland's Deputy Minister for Europe, Jaroslaw Pietras, says there is still enough time left.

"The commission is right in saying that there is plenty of work between today and 1 May 2004. We are quite aware of progress that is needed," he said.

The commission lists a range of possible sanctions to any country failing to come up to scratch, from withholding subsidies to issuing fines and export bans.

Scrutiny

European Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen said he did not normally make rankings but told Slovenian television its country was the best prepared.

"I must say the result is surprisingly positive and fully justifies the statement of the Commission that this is the best prepared enlargement in the history of the European Union," he said.

"After the accession there will be no problems for the functioning of institutions and policies."

The BBC's Oana Lungescu, in Brussels, says that privately, EU officials admit that the applicants have been scrutinised more closely than existing member states.

From next year, when regular monitoring stops, countries like Poland could be tempted to break EU rules just as much as France or Germany.

The commission also issued a progres report on Bulgaria and Romania, which aim to join the bloc in 2007.

Romania suffered a blow as the report concluded it was, crucially, not a functioning market economy. However the report said it could be "once the good progress made has continued decisively".

Torture

Turkey, which hopes to start EU entry talks in 2005, fares less well in another commission report.

Turkey allows Kurdish conference

The commission says that Turkey, despite significant progress in political reforms, still falls short of EU standards.

The 133-page report says that torture still persists in many prisons, and mentions important judicial decisions with respect to torture which have not been implemented.

It praises Turkey's determination in passing four packages of politically sensitive reforms, but says implementation has been slow and uneven.

The report also warns that the absence of a settlement for the divided island of Cyprus could become a serious obstacle to Turkey's aspirations to begin EU entry talks by 2005.

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said: "We will show the whole world in the coming days that the laws we have passed are properly implemented."