Poland, the largest of 10 European Union entrants, has the most work to do in the final six months before membership, lagging behind in selling state assets and cutting budget spending, the European Commission said

Poland, with 39 million people, falls short of EU requirements in nine areas, compared with three in the Czech Republic and four in Hungary, the second and third-largest countries. Slovenia, with 1.9 million people, is the most prepared, failing in only one area, the commission said in a report. ``The Commission wanted to show it's critical after some current member states questioned last year whether candidates are indeed prepared,'' said Zsolt Papp, an economist at ABN Amro in London. ``It cannot be ruled out that it will impose sanctions on the new members if they fail to improve on these issues.'' The governments sold EU entry on promises of rising living standards and faster growth as companies access an enlarged market of 450 million people stretching from the Atlantic to Russia. The results of the annual scorecard won't keep the EU's largest expansion from taking place, though failure to complete the remaining work may lead to some entrants losing out on $47 billion of EU funds over the next three years and keep some goods out of the single market. The 10 countries set to join the EU on May 1 are Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovenia, Estonia, the Greek half of Cyprus and Malta. ``The 10 governments are perfectly aware that any shortcoming in any area would deprive them of the benefits of accession in that sector, in terms of both financial transfers and market access,'' European Commission President Romano Prodi told the European Parliament. ``We will continue to follow up the issues still outstanding over the coming months. I am fully confident that all these countries will overcome these last obstacles.'' The entrants must take ``immediate and decisive action,'' in several areas of ``serious concern,'' the commission said. In Poland ``the reform path has nearly come to a halt.'' The entrants' combined economy, about the same size as the Netherlands, will make up less than 5 percent of the EU 9 trillion- euro ($10.3 trillion) economy. Their growth is expected to outpace the EU, helped by rising wages, now about a quarter of the EU average, and as EU money goes to help small businesses, farms and road construction. Poland, whose economy represents almost half the total gross domestic product of the 10 entrants, will work to address the deficiencies, Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski said before the report was published.