Timely EU entry

Malta backs Bulgaria's EU entry, from Sofia News Agency:

Bulgaria and Romania should join the European Union (EU) as planned on January 1, 2007, Malta's Foreign Minister Michael Frendo said. Frendo welcomed his Bulgarian counterpart Ivaylo Kalfin in Malta's capital La Valletta. Kalfin is on a historic visit to the small country - the first one of a Bulgarian minister in the history of the bilateral relations of Bulgaria and Malta.

Besides Bulgaria's EU futures the two foreign ministers have also discussed the trial against the five Bulgarian nurses in Libya. Kalfin was also welcomed by Malta's President Edward Fenech Adami, Deputy Prime Minister and Justice and Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg and other officials.