BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Key EU reports on Bulgaria and Romania will tell the countries they could still join the bloc in 2007, rather than 2008, if they speed up tough administrative and economic reforms, officials said yesterday.

The EU executive Commission's annual progress report, due to be released on Tuesday, will also note that Romania, long seen as a laggard in EU preparations, has caught up with Bulgaria, where a post-election stalemate slowed down reforms this year. «The main message of the report will be that 2007 (as the EU entry date) is still doable, but very serious effort will be needed,» a Commission official said, asking not to be named.

BELGRADE (AFP) - Serbia-Montenegro President Svetozar Marovic has canceled a planned visit to Belgrade by his Slovenian counterpart over comments supporting independence for the disputed Kosovo province. «Your declaration that the independence of Kosovo is the only real option caused surprise and protests from the general public and political institutions in Serbia-Montenegro, particularly from the Republic of Serbia,» Marovic wrote in a letter to Slovenian President Janez Drnovsek, a copy of which was released yesterday to the media.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has promised 150 million dollars in aid for Pakistani quake victims, the largest donation so far by a single country, an official said yesterday. Erdogan, the first foreign government leader to tour the Himalayan region since the October 8 disaster killed some 50,000 people, made the pledge a day after the United Nations begged the world to do more to help survivors. (AFP)

Minority rights groups urged Romanian President Traian Basescu yesterday not to sign an anti-racism bill into law until it mentions that Gypsies, or Roma, were among the victims of the Holocaust. About 30 Romanian and foreign Gypsy advocates, including rights activists and European lawmakers, signed an open letter objecting to wording of the legislation, which aims to make racial discrimination illegal. They complained that it failed to mention that the Nazi Holocaust targeted Gypsies as well as Jews. (AP)

Serbia-Montenegro's joint assembly was expected yesterday to approve a friend of top war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic as the country's new defense minister. Serbia, the union's dominant republic, nominated Zoran Stankovic, former director of the Belgrade military hospital, after an equipment purchase scandal forced the previous minister to resign. ( AP)