Brussels, 03/06/2008 (Agence Europe) - Commission experts are currently in Bulgaria to see for themselves the progress that the country has made since it joined the EU in 2007 to fill the gaps in areas such as reform of the judiciary, the fight against corruption and organised crime, aviation security, the safety of foodstuffs and the management of agricultural funds. As soon as the experts return, Commission services will begin to prepare the progress report that the College of Commissioners is to adopt in July on implementation of the “mechanism for cooperation and verification” (MCV) that the EU established in December 2006 for Bulgaria and Romania, shortly before their accession. As far as justice and the fight against corruption and organised crime is concerned, the MCV has set priority benchmarks to be met as a matter of urgency: 6 for Bulgaria and 4 for Romania. The Commission must report every six months on their implementation. A first report was published in June 2007, followed by a progress report in February 2008 (EUROPE 9594).
Speaking recently before the European Policy Centre (EPC), Commissioner Olli Rehn intimated that the Commission is not pleased with Bulgarian efforts to eradicate corruption and to ensure irreproachable management of Community funds. “More needs to be done (by Sofia) to guarantee that European and Bulgarian taxpayers' money is properly managed and spent”, he said. If this is not so, the country could have European aid under the Structural Funds partially suspended, he added. “In the July report, we will have to deal with the question of EU funds with the question as to whether there are problems so endemic that they deserve possible suspension of EU funds”, Mr Rehn asserted. A Commission spokesman sought to put Mr Rehn's remarks into perspective, saying: “Bulgarian authorities are hard at work to meet the concerns raised by the Commission in the past (…). It is too early to speculate on the conclusions of the July report”. (H.B.)