EC presents progress reports on Bulgaria and Romania under the CVM

The European Commission on 13^th of November presents the progress reports on Bulgaria and Romania under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism. Expectations are that monitoring for Bulgaria will be dropped within the term of office of this Commission. It expires in October next year. The monitoring of the justice system and the fight against corruption in Romania is likely to continue.

Bulgaria and Romania are the only two EU countries that have been under the constant monitoring by Brussels for 11 years now. The European Commission assesses each year the progress on the reform and trust in the justice system and the fight against corruption and organised crime.

European experts monitor the development of key cases in both countries, mostly against former and current politicians and senior magistrates. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has repeatedly said he hopes the monitoring for Bulgaria will be removed at the end of his term in office.

This would accelerate the accession of our country to the Schengen area. One of the arguments of countries such as the Netherlands and Germany that oppose Bulgaria’s accession to Schengen is precisely the presence of monitoring by Brussels. Due to the worsened state of rule of law in Romania, the monitoring for Bucharest is expected to remain. Brussels is considering replacing the report with a pan-European rule of law monitoring mechanism covering all Member States with problems.