Bulgaria has received a new portion of criticism and remarks these days by the European Commission in the annual specific recommendations from Brussels to all Member States. However, the critical comments did not cause much of a response in this country. There are two reasons for this. First, Sofia has already become used to being put under constant criticism by the European Commission and yet another list of remarks and criticisms is already not making a special impression on anyone. Second, recent recommendations from Brussels do not really say anything new and unknown to the authorities and citizens in the country, the same old issues are raised over and over again, supposedly measures are being taken all the time and eventually everybody is still dissatisfied.

This is confirmed by the fact that, according to the EC, Bulgaria has fulfilled only one of the five recommendations for reforms that it received last year with the adoption of the law on school education. Under the other four main points there has been no progress and Sofia seems to be unable to cope with the tasks entrusted.

Of particular concern according to the EC is the situation with public procurement, in particular those tender procedures related to the implementation of cohesion programs in the country. The lack of administrative capacity and transparency, the abuse and diversion of funds have been identified as key problems by the experts in Brussels. And because of the unsatisfactory results they insist on changes in the Public Procurement Agency, on tighter controls and honest procedures for naming the winners of public tenders for the implementation of various EU projects. It should be noted in this connection that Bulgaria has adopted a new law on public procurement, which was supposed to provide the necessary tools to solve these long-standing problems annoying for Brussels. Many observers and experts, however, say this new law is not able to solve all the problems and leaves quite a few loopholes for corruption and abuse. This was proven by Prime Minister Boyko Borissov himself, on whose personal orders contracts for hundreds of millions of euros were cancelled. The vice-president of the European Commission and the European Commissioner for budget and human resources Kristalina Georgieva said that the situation was really very serious.

The European Commission has directed four new recommendations to Bulgaria regarding the deficit in public finances, on improving tax collection and curbing the grey economy and on the stability of the financial and insurance system, as well as on improving the healthcare sector and making amendments to trade legislation.

The fact that Bulgaria remains somehow unimpressed by the angry criticism of Brussels is made evident by the manner in which the EC recommendations were officially presented in Bulgaria – the presentation was done at the level of deputy cabinet ministers. The media came out with only short reports by paying more attention to the forecasts for the finance ministry revealed at this meeting about an expected GDP growth of 2.9% this year, which is significantly more than the most optimistic expectations from this year. A sign that the recommendations to Sofia from outside already seem to be too numerous is the warning that Bulgaria should be ready for action in case of refusal of Turkey to implement the agreement with the EU on migration. Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov said that "countries on the front line should be able to rely on support from the EU in order to be able to manage and protect the external borders of the Union, and not to be left to seek individual solutions."

English version: Rossitsa Petcova