Sweden says the European Union should be ready to receive new members on the first of January 2003.

But the country's foreign minister, Anna Lindh, said there were still problems to be resolved in talks with the candidate members and a firm date for the start of the enlargement process could only be set during the Swedish EU presidency next spring at the earliest.

Several candidate countries have been pressing the EU to confirm the beginning of 2003 as the start date for enlargement, but correspondents say there has been reluctance to do so, with the year 2005 unofficially mentioned as a more realistic date.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service