18/11/2003 (Agence Europe) - On Monday, Commissioner Verheugen presented to the Council the regular reports on the acceding countries adopted by the Commission in November. In answer to questions by the Netherlands, he made it clear that, by 1 May 2004, the Council's working group on enlargement would be kept regularly informed of progress made by the acceding countries, mainly on the 39 points of concern. The Council will be referred to if it is a question of applying safeguard clauses. Several ministers, including the French Minister for European Affairs, Noëlle Lenoir, and the Belgian Secretary of State for European Affairs, Jacques Simonet, "insisted" that Bulgaria and Romania should be able to join the EU according to a set timetable: conclusion of negotiations end 2004, signing in 2005 and accession in 2007.