Brussels, 25/07/2008 (Agence Europe) - Speaking through its chairman, Joseph Daul, the EPP-ED Group at the European Parliament said it considered the European Commission's assessment reports on Bulgaria, adopted on Wednesday, “extremely alarming for all EU member states” (EUROPE 9709). Mr Daul said: “This Bulgarian government has failed to honour its commitments towards Europe to successfully eradicate corruption and organised crime”. Rumiana Jeleva, who heads the Bulgarian delegation in the EPP-ED Group, considers for her part that “No real successes in the fight against organised crime and corruption, as well as the freezing of funding from the EU pre-accession programmes confirm what Bulgarian citizens already know - this government is unable to implement the reforms. This discredits Bulgarian membership of the Union and comes at the expense of Bulgarian citizens. The Bulgarian government should take on the political responsibility for this failure”. Elmar Brok (EPP-ED, Germany) spoke out even more strongly, saying that the “blocking of EU funds for Bulgaria is the right decision” and that it is “the only way to ensure the credibility of the EU enlargement process”. Mr Brok considers that, although there are distinctions between Romania and Bulgaria, the situation in both countries has grown worse since they joined the EU. He went on to call on the Commission to activate safeguard clauses provided for in the accession treaties at the next possible opportunity. Joseph Daul, on the other hand, welcomed the Commission's decision not to apply safeguard clauses to Bucharest. (O.L./transl.jl)