site.bta January EC Report on Bulgaria to Assess 10 Years' Progress

January EC Report on Bulgaria to Assess 10 Years' Progress

Brussels, December 7 (BTA correspondent Nikolay Jeliazkov) - Justice Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva said the European Commission's next report on Bulgaria under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) was due out at the end of January and would assess Bulgaria's progress in the ten years since it was introduced.

Zaharieva told Bulgarian journalists in Brussels: "We believe the CVM should move on to a more intensive stage, including more specialized missions. Bulgaria shares EC President Jean-Claude Juncker's view that it would be good if a decision that Bulgaria can exit the programme could be taken before the end of this Commission's mandate in 2019. We claim that some of the six benchmarks have been fulfilled: the Constitution and the Judicial System Act have been amended."

The CVM reports are useful but it may be better to have a more dynamic mechanism, featuring specialized, not more frequent, recommendation missions. Each government should work towards judicial reform, including the next one, because the reform is not implemented for the CVM and Brussels but for the Bulgarians, said Zaharieva. Plans to exit the programme by the end of 2019 can fail if Bulgaria cannot ensure continuity in fulfilling the benchmarks. The EC has noted substantial progress on the judicial reform strategy and hopes Sofia will keep up the quick pace regardless of the political situation, said Zaharieva.

She added that on Tuesday she discussed future missions Bulgaria might request in support of the judicial reform with EC Vice Presidents Frans Timmermans and Valdis Dombrovskis. A report on the review of the Bulgarian Prosecution Service will be published after December 15, and at least a summary of the general recommendations will be made public. Zaharieva said the reports' recommendations would not be binding.

The Council of Ministers' has not discussed the nomination of a new EU commissioner but it would be good to nominate one because Bulgaria may miss its chance for a good portfolio, said Zaharieva. "I have no ambition for this, I know my name has come up and I take it as an assessment of my performance," she said, adding that if the outgoing government quits in mid-December, it should not name the next Bulgarian commissioner. Zaharieva also said: "If we stay until January 22 [when President Plevneliev's term ends], the EC may ask Bulgaria to name a commissioner sooner because otherwise the Commission will be incomplete."

Commission Vice-President Kristalina Georgieva, responsible for Budget and Human Resources, is resigning as of January 2, 2017, to become Chief Executive Officer of the World Bank.