President Radev: No Serious Progress on Recommendations Made in EC CVM Report

There has been no serious progress so far on the recommendations made by the European Commission in the latest CVM report, the comments by power-holders and opposition on it are divergent because the report itself is meandering, Bulgaria’s President Roumen Radev said on 16^th of November before the start of the official meeting at G. S. Rakovski Military Academy on the occasion of the Land Forces Day.

According to the ruling parties and officials of the judiciary, the latest report has been the most positive ever. The opposition said that the report says Bulgaria has not implemented any of the recommendations in the previous CVM report.

He said that Bulgarians had long ceased to rely on the European Commission reports on Bulgaria's progress in reforming its judiciary and fighting organized crime and corruption because they shift the responsibility – instead of reporting to the Bulgarian citizens, the Bulgarian politicians more and more report to Brussels.

What matters to the Bulgarian citizens is to be convinced of the effectiveness and justice of our judicial system, to be able see that there is a real fight against corruption and injustice, Radev said. He added that the real success will come when our politicians really start reporting to their citizens.

Asked to comment GERB's proposal to lift the statutory limitations for prosecution of possible crimes during the privatization process since the start of transition from a planned to free market economy in the 1990s, President Radev said that more important to focus on the present and the future "because while looking into who did what in the past, major public procurements take place".

He added that the important question is what mechanisms will be used to identify, disrupt and prosecute corruption-related crimes in the future.