Bulgaria, Romania remain under Commission scrutiny

Author (Corporate)
Series Title
Series Details 23.7.09
Publication Date 23/07/2009
Content Type

Cross-party political support is now needed to underpin the momentum that is building for reform in Bulgaria and Romania. However, more needs to be done to deliver convincing results in judicial reform, tackling corruption, and in the case of Bulgaria in the fight against organised crime.

This is the main conclusion to be drawn from the two reports adopted on the 22 July 2009 by the European Commission.

In the previous year, Romania had tabled important proposals to reform criminal law, civil law and judicial procedures but more political support is required to deliver swift and effective decisions on cases of high-level corruption by an independent judiciary.

Bulgaria started to restructure its prosecution service and recorded more indictments and convictions as a result. At the same time, the fight against corruption and organised crime needs stronger political support – this clearly should be a priority task for the new government.

The Commission recognises that further support and monitoring is needed and invites the other Member States to continue assisting Bulgaria and Romania in the reform process. To guide this process, the reports include a series of concrete recommendations to be implemented by the two countries over the next year.

Source Link Link to Main Source http://www.euractiv.com/enlargement/bulgaria-romania-remain-commissi-news-222375
Related Links
European Commission: Press Release: IP/09/1166: Bulgaria and Romania: Political consensus needed to push forward the progress on judicial reform and the fight against corruption http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/09/1166&format=DOC&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
European Commission: Secretariat General: Mechanism for Cooperation and Verification for Bulgaria and Romania: Assessing ongoing progress by Bulgaria and Roma http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/secretariat_general/cvm/index_en.htm
ESO: Background information: Bulgaria ‘risks falling under Russia’s influence’ http://www.europeansources.info/record/bulgaria-risks-falling-under-russias-influence/
ESO: Background information: Romanian MEPs blast Commission report http://www.europeansources.info/record/romanian-meps-blast-commission-report/
European Policies Initiative: The Unfinished Business of the Fifth Enlargement Countries, July 2009 http://eupi.osi.bg/cgi-bin/e-cms/vis/vis.pl?s=001&p=0070&n=000013&g=
Deutsche Welle, 22.7.09: EU to continue monitoring reforms in Bulgaria, Romania http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4510980,00.html

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