EC PROGRESS REPORT IDENTIFIES AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT (with Reactions from Bulgaria)

The European Commission presented its report on Bulgaria’s progress under the co-operation and verification mechanism in respect of the judicial and law enforcement system.

The report describes the progress in the area of judicial reform, anti-corruption work, and the fight against organised crime as being disappointing. According to the report the results in those areas are insufficient and more actions are required. It indicates that the Supreme Judicial Council has taken some steps to solve the problem of the workload imbalance of magistrates. However, It also notes that the SJC is not sufficiently independent to be able to implement the reforms in the judiciary.

Comments on the perspectives of the new Penal Code are not particularly encouraging and it is noted that the governmental anticorruption project “BORKOR’ has shown no concrete results and that the Conflict of Interest Commission became embroiled in a serious scandal involving suspicions of political influence. The report also highlights the absence of transparency in public appointments in the judicial system and the failed appointments to the Constitutional Court.

The report points out that senior appointments had to be aborted due to integrity issues of the candidates.

Concrete concern is expressed regarding the appointment of the Head of the State Agency for National Security (SANS) and his subsequent step down from the position. The document indicates that the candidate eventually had to withdraw, but such events left a legacy of concern about how the system runs.

The full text of the report is available here.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTERS GIVE FIRST REACTIONS TO THE EC PROGRESS REPORT

The Deputy Prime Ministers Zinaida Zlatanova (Minister of Justice) and Tsvetlin Yovchev (Minister of Interior) consider that the EC report is objective and accurate. Yovchev assured that in a short period of time the government will adopt an action plan to tackle the areas of concern identified in the report. Zlatanova added that this report covers the work of 3 governments, 2 Supreme Judicial Councils and 2 Parliaments. The two Deputy Prime Ministers agreed they would not transfer responsibility in respect of the critical points of the report. The report issued by the EC is an example of transparency and integrity and rejected any attempts being made to influence the EC in the last minute, between the draft and the official version of the report. The criticism in the report does not highlight any weaknesses of the current government, it even identifies that progress has been made in the recent 6 months and therefore no personnel changes are required in the Ministry of Interior and the judicial system, Yovchev explained.

Zinaida Zlatanova said there was no criticism towards Bulgaria as regards the new Penal Code, recently amended by the Council of Ministers. Yovchev commented that the anticorruption structure ‘Borkor’ has to stay in place and more functions need to be added to it in order the government to effectively fight corruption. According to him, a consistent approach has to be applied in the fight against corruption rather than identifying a senior official and putting him in prison.