Brussels, 18/07/2012 (Agence Europe) - Bulgaria has managed, over the last 5 years, to put in place the legislative framework and appropriate institutions with regard to judicial reforms and the fight against corruption, and will from now only be assessed at the end of September 2013, the European Commission said in its report on the cooperation and verification mechanism (CVM). But although Sofia has won time to continue its efforts and is exempted from a fresh mid-way evaluation (traditionally published in February), the authorities will nevertheless seriously have to redouble their efforts in certain domains, notably the fight against organised crime and high-level corruption, where there are still signs of weakness. For organised crime, specialised structures have been put in place over recent years, the Commission welcomed. Yet in spite of this Sofia has still to deliver “convincing results”.
The Commission deems, five years on, that Bulgaria is in line to fulfil its objectives under the CVM (it is assessed on six benchmarks as opposed to four for Romania) but that monitoring of the country must still be prolonged for the time that the authorities take “to plug the gaps” identified. Since 2007, the Commission writes, the country has engaged in “major constitutional and legal reforms” which however remain “incomplete”. Key institutions, like the upper Council of the judiciary and its “inspection” have been created and “large investments have been dedicated to the structures for the fight against organised crime”, the Commission writes.
Yet in spite of this, the full potential of this new framework has not been fully exploited, with measures taken, for example, by these new structures which have “limited scope”. The governments which have followed on from each other in Bulgaria over the last five years have not attached the same importance to the process of reform and many measures seem to have been taken “due to external pressure” the Commission says. “Due to the lack of consistency, the process of reform has not achieved the necessary pace to be accepted as a contributing factor of development in Bulgaria”, the Commission argues. The country must show more commitment and more “ownership” of its reforms (our translation throughout). Until the end of 2013 the Commission will also keep a close watch on the situation. (SP/transl.fl)