Radio Bulgaria

For the first time in four years, the European Commission reports a strong political will in Bulgaria for reforms against organized crime and high-level corruption. However, the country’s results are yet insufficient, the fourth annual EC report on the cooperation and verification mechanism for Bulgaria’s judiciary and home affairs reads. For the first time, too, Bulgaria is better than Romania, comparative reports pointed out. The cooperation and verification mechanism has been implemented in both EU member states as a result of weaknesses in their judicial reforms. According to 2010 EC report, progress is slow, and too few cases involving people from the criminal world are concluded. “There is a need for improvements of professional practice within the police, prosecution and courts.”, the report reads further.

The Bulgarian government has responded immediately. By next Tuesday, it will draw up an action plan in response to the EC’s recommendations, Bulgarian PM Boyko Borissov said at a special press conference, and gave Bulgaria’s ministers a 3-month deadline to find out adequate solutions for the problems indicated in the report. The importance of specialized courts and units of police officers, investigators and prosecutors is also stressed upon, Mr Borissov went on to say. Specialized courts to try cases of organized crime and corruption will start operating as of January 2011. “The EC should know that Bulgaria appreciates its positive assessment, but also looks at its recommendations seriously, and will try to bring about improvement within a month”, Bulgarian PM commented.

“According to this year’s EC report, Bulgaria has got ‘strong reform momentum’ since the last one in 2009”, Mr Borissov said. “Those who said there were no reforms should read it. In my view, the EC report is the most important document and the most objective assessment of all. Therefore, I will repeat once again that there is strong reform momentum in Bulgaria. The new judicial reform strategy evidences a strong political will for sustained judicial reforms. Mr Werner Faymann, Chancellor of Austria, also congratulated me on Bulgaria’s achievement during our official meeting in Vienna. He said in public that the EC report for Bulgaria is much better than the Romanian one, and that he is extremely content with the assessments on Bulgaria’s fight against high-level corruption”, Bulgaria’s PM concluded.

“We are most pleased that the positive everyday efforts of Bulgaria’s Ministry of Interior have met the EC’s requirements and, having said that, I would like to thank all out officers”, Interior Minister Tzvetan Tzvetanov said. He also expressed words of gratitude to Bulgaria’s National Assembly and GERB’s parliamentary group, since the latter prioritized the adoption of the necessary legal changes brought forward by the Council of Ministers for reforms in the country’s Interior Ministry and the State Agency for National Security. This has improved coordination and eliminated duplicate functions in the system. Our next challenge is to consolidate what has already been achieved”, Mr Tzvetanov said for Radio Bulgaria.

“Over the last year, due to the cooperation and verification mechanism, our Euro partners have regained trust in Bulgaria”, Minister of Justice Margarita Popova said. “This can be felt from every page of the report. Unlike EC’s recommendations of 2009, 2008 and 2007, this year’s guidelines are not specific, but are rather supporting. This is particularly evident in the part of the report that deals with the strategy and law for the Judiciary. The latter betray support, since the Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Justice work in close cooperation with their partners and EU member states. Only one year ago, this could not have happened. The government and the Bulgarian state have improved tremendously their cooperation”, Minister of Justice Margarita Popova said.

Do we need a new mechanism for a more effective judicial system that can deal with corrupt magistrates?

“Corrupt magistrates can see clearly from the report that they are a burden to the Bulgarian nation and the country’s prosperity”, PM Boyko Borrisov said. “You can see what efforts we make, and the high tempo at which we work even in summer. The ones who have been seen as least effective by the EC report got their 13th and 14th salaries last year. Is this fair?”, Mr Borissov said and recommended strongly Bulgaria’s judicial authorities to go through the report carefully and come up with measures for the country’s improvement in the area of justice.