Bulgaria joined the European Union in 2007. However, this country has been subject to a constant monitoring by the European Commission under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism. Bulgaria’s northern neighbor Romania has been subject to the same monitoring as well. The two countries became EU members 11 years ago despite the existence of problems in the justice and home affairs fields. No other EU member states, including those who joined the European Union after Bulgaria and Romania, have been subject to such monitoring. Some analysts comment that the abovementioned monitoring can be regarded as discrimination against the two countries.

The EC report notes that while Romania has taken some steps to implement the final 12 recommendations issued in January 2017, in order to fulfill CVM benchmarks, recent developments have reversed the course of progress and called into question the positive assessment made in January this year. In the November 13 report about Bulgaria’s progress under the CVM the European Commission considers that several recommendations have already been implemented and a number of others are very close to implementation. On this basis, three benchmarks (judicial independence, legislative framework and organized crime) out of six can be considered provisionally closed.This report acknowledges that Bulgaria has continued to make steady progress in implementing the final recommendations we set out in January 2017. If the current positive trend continues and progress is maintained sustainably and irreversibly, I am confident that the CVM process for Bulgaria can be concluded before the end of this Commission’s mandate”, First Vice President Frans Timmermans said.

The report of the European Commission on the progress in Bulgaria under the Cooperation and Verification mechanism is objective, Bulgaria’s Deputy Premier and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ekaterina Zaharieva said. The EC report is positive, objective and clearly evaluates the results achieved and the irreversibility of the reforms, Bulgaria’s Minister of Justice Tsetska Tsacheva added. The most important conclusion after yesterday’s report of the European Commission is that the monitoring on Bulgaria continues, MEP Svetoslav Malinov pointed out. MEP Angel Dzhambazki noted that other EU countries, including Germany, should be also subject to the same mechanism for control. The Bulgarian Socialist Party notes that the EC considers that Bulgaria has to develop a track record of positive results in relation to trials for high-level corruption. BSP concludes that Bulgaria has not fulfilled the recommendations related to the fight against corruption and that although the EC monitoring on Bulgaria is close to its end the questions to the Bulgarian government remain.

The day before the EC published its report on the progress in Bulgaria and Romania under the Cooperation and Verification mechanism it became clear that the Council of Europe is considering the possibility to introduce constant annual monitoring on the rule of law in all EU member states. The European Parliament should vote in the coming days the proposal for common European mechanism on the rule of law, democracy and fundamental rights adopted in 2014. The new mechanism is expected to replace the current Mechanism for Cooperation and Verification for Bulgaria and Romania. This is a reasonable step taking into consideration the latest report of the Austrian Presidency of the Council of the European Union on the trust in public institutions and the rule of law. According to last year’s data, 37% of the EU citizens trusted their governments and 36% of them had confidence in their parliaments. Only 42% of the EU citizens trusted the EU. Only 19% of the surveyed nationals said they trusted the political parties, the report further reads

English version: Kostadin Atanasov