Council of Ministers on EC's report: Bulgaria will continue with the reforms

Speaking in a briefing in the Council of Ministers on October 22, Bulgaria’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva on October 22 commented that for the first time in this monitoring report, the European Commission clearly and firmly ascertained the fulfillment of Bulgaria's commitments.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva and Minister of Interior Mladen Marinov gave a positive assessment of the findings in the progress report under CVM and indicated that the recommendations were fulfilled by Bulgaria.

Minister Zaharieva said that from now on, there should be no speculations as of what date the monitoring mechanism would be discontinued.

The representatives of the government are adamant that regardless of whether the monitoring will be discontinued or stay in place, Bulgaria will continue with the reforms.

Ekaterina Zaharieva, Deputy Prime Minister: The Commission notes that some of the 17 recommendations have already been implemented and others are very close to implementation. On this basis, the monitoring of all three of the six benchmarks was discontinued by the European Commission. She also expressed confidence that Bulgaria would be able to implement all other recommendations. Today's report and the facts show that this confidence was not in vain. Today, the European Commission clearly and firmly states that the progress made by Bulgaria under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism is sufficient to meet the commitments our country has made since joining the EU.

Mladen Marinov, Minister of the Interior: The report shows that we have reached levels that guarantee trust in partner services, both European and international.

Earlier today, before the report was released, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov commented that the government had worked hard to fulfill all its commitments.