EU criticizes Bulgaria and Romania

The European Commission (EC) said that new EU members Bulgaria and Romania must do more to achieve judicial reform and fight corruption and organized crime. An interim report on Bulgaria criticized Bulgarian efforts to counter high-level corruption and organized crime for not demonstrating "convincing results." Another interim report on Romania praised the Romanian government's commitment to judicial reform and ending corruption, but again criticized the lack of concrete results and said it needed to concentrate on high-level corruption. The EC did not call for sanctions against the two countries, but did say that both needed to improve ahead of the Commission's next detailed evaluation in mid-2008.

In January 2007, Bulgaria and Romania officially joined the EU following six years of accession negotiations. Both countries are required to meet a series of benchmarks; failing to do so could result in EU intervention and the loss of economic aid under Articles 36-38 of the Act of Accession, which lays out safeguard mechanisms in the event of problems posing a threat to the functioning of the EU.

The six benchmarks set for Bulgaria are as follows:

1. Adopt constitutional amendments removing any ambiguity regarding the independence and accountability of the judicial system.
2. Ensure a more transparent and efficient judicial process by adopting and implementing a new judicial system act and the new civil procedure code. Report on the impact of these new laws and of the penal and administrative procedure code, notably on the pre-trial phase.
3. Continue the reform of the judiciary in order to enhance professionalism, accountability and efficiency. Evaluate the impact of this reform and publish the results annually.
4. Conduct and report on professional, non-partisan investigations into allegations of high-level corruption. Report internal inspections of public institutions and on the publication of assets of high-level officials.
5. Take further measures to prevent and fight corruption, in particular at the borders and within local government.
6. Implement a strategy to fight organised crime, focussing on serious crime, money laundering as well as on the systematic confiscation of assets of criminals. Report on new and ongoing investigations, indictments and convictions in these areas.

The first report of the EC was published on 27 June 2007. It included a comprehensive assessment of progress against each of the six benchmarks. The report concluded that the Bulgarian Government was committed to judicial reform and cleansing the system of corruption and organised crime. However, there was still a clear weakness in translating these intentions into concrete results. This report was considered too short to allow Bulgaria to remedy all shortcomings and for the EC to revisit the assessment. It contains only a factual update of progress and takes note of some concerns on how progress has been evolving which need to be addressed by Bulgaria before the EC carries out a full assessment again mid 2008.

The report concludes that the efforts of Bulgaria in the areas of judicial reform (benchmarks 1 to 3) and in fighting corruption at its borders continue successfully whereas efforts to fight corruption within local government (benchmark 5) should still be strengthened to show the same positive results. The report shows its particular concern for the areas of fighting high-level corruption (benchmark 4) and organised crime (benchmark 6) where convincing results have not yet been demonstrated by Bulgaria. The interim report expresses the Commission's concern on the absence of convincing results to date in the fight against high-level corruption and organised crime in Bulgaria. "The commission's analysis of a sample of high-profile cases [of organised crime] registered shows that only one case has been finalised since 2000 and half of the cases are still at the investigation stage" according to the Bulgarian document. Sofia should also strengthen "actions to fight corruption within local government and vulnerable sectors such as healthcare and education".

In this report the EC underlines that "we do not deal with safeguard clauses now". According to the countries' accession treaties – documents outlining the terms of their membership – if Sofia and Bucharest fall short of EU standards in certain areas, such as the economy, the internal market, and justice and home affairs, the EU can decide to impose certain safeguard measures. One consequence of this could be a refusal to recognise decisions by Bulgarian and Romanian courts throughout the EU – a humiliating step for fully fledged member state.

The Commission will issue again a comprehensive report under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism with an assessment of progress against all benchmarks for both countries in July 2008.

Sources: Jurist, EUOBSERVER, EC