In a report published on Wednesday 24 January, the Greens/EFA group of the European Parliament expressed concern about the lack of action taken in Bulgaria but also at a European Union level in tackling, “the endemic corruption undermining the rule of law and democracy in Bulgaria".
This study by the Greens/EFA particularly underlines the fact that Bulgaria has one of the worst standings in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index, ranking 75th out of all the countries in the world.
The report analyses the ties between the Bulgarian government, oligarchs, banks and media and identifies a number of shortcomings, such as the fact that the media is owned by the oligarchs and that the new anticorruption law and remit of the new anticorruption committee that will have monitoring powers with regard to public persons and the right to target the behaviour of "corrupt" judges is still a concept that has not yet been defined in law.
The report also compares the country with Romania, which has also been subject to the Commission’s Cooperation and Verification Mechanism since 2007 (see EUROPE 11905). By comparing the levels of legal pursuits carried out in 2015, the Prosecutor's Office produced 1,250 criminal accusations against officials, including the Prime Minister, five ministers, 16 MPs, five senators and 97 Mayors and Deputy Mayors.
The report points out that in Bulgaria, however, “There were only eight convictions against corruption offences”. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)