Brussels, 25/09/2006 (Agence Europe) - On 26 September, the European Commission is set to give its green light to the accession of Bulgaria and Romania on 1 January 2007, whilst keeping the pressure on Sofia and Bucharest to plug the gaps which persist, particularly in the field of justice and the management of the future Community funds. In the reports to be presented by José Manuel Barroso and Olli Rehn this Tuesday afternoon at the European Parliament, the Commission is set to announce "accompanying measures" aiming to help both countries to come fully into line with the Community acquis. These accompanying measures also include the threat of applying the safeguard measures should the greatest shortcomings prove impossible to resolve in the very near future, which means by accession or shortly afterwards. The Commission, therefore, will not be announcing the safeguard measures at this stage, but is set to identify the shortcomings in question, together with the measures which will be required to remedy the situation. If these measures are taken quickly, the safeguard measures could possibly be avoided, a Commission source emphasised, because "above all, the objective is to accompany and to help the countries to resolve their problems, rather than punish them". Generally speaking, the Commission will state in its reports that both countries have made considerable progress, particularly since the last monitoring reports published in May, and that their state of preparedness will allow them to keep 1 January 2007 as the accession date. However, grey areas subsist for both countries: the incomplete reform of the legal system; the lack of concrete results on the fight against corruption, organised crime and money laundering; deficits in the field of food safety; delays in the implementation of an efficient and transparent system for the management and payment of Community funds under the common agricultural policy and the structural funds. In all of these sectors, the Commission reserves the right to suspend the application of certain Community policies to both countries unless they take the necessary measures. In the field of agriculture, the Commission is this Wednesday to adopt a proposed regulation which will allow the EU to block up to 25% of agricultural subsidies to both future Member States in the first year following accession if Sofia and Bucharest payment agencies cannot guarantee the effective, correct and transparent use of the funds to farmers, in line with EU rules.