site.btaBrussels Warns Sofia of "Not-So-Positive" Upcoming Report on Judicial Reforms

Brussels Warns Sofia of "Not-So-Positive" Upcoming Report on Judicial Reforms


Brussels, October 28 (BTA correspondent Nikolay Jeliazkov) - The
upcoming report by the European Commission (EC) on the progress
of judicial reforms in Bulgaria is not going to be "all that
positive", Bulgarian Justice Minister Hristo Ivanov said here
Tuesday. He was speaking to Bulgarian reporters after a meeting
with EC experts and EC Secretary General Catherine Day where the
two sides discussed a draft update of Bulgaria's judicial
reform strategy.

"The conclusion is that we cannot expect a very positive report,
and we have to be prepared for that," Ivanov said summing up
Catherine Day's comments.

The European Commission report will probably be released in the
second half of January.

"From now on, our goal should be to identify the problems, for
our own sake, and prove that we have a clear idea of how to deal
with them - without setting any deadlines of two months or six
months," the Minister said.

He said that Brussels underscored the widening gap between
Bulgaria and Romania. "This contrast is something we need to
worry about. It is also an additional factor to mobilize us,
especially on political level," Ivanov added.

Bulgaria and Romania have been bundled up in the EC monitoring
of judicial reform and the combat against organized crime and
graft ever since the so called "Cooperation and Verification
Mechanism" (CVM) of monitoring was set in place when the two
countries joined the EU in 2007.

Ivanov quoted the EC Secretary General as saying that it is
crucial for the political forces in Bulgaria to reach a
consensus on a clear plan in the area of reforms monitored by
the EC.

"We have to make an effort and achieve political consensus
unless we want the contrast with Romania, which is slowly
growing into a division, to strengthen," said the Justice
Minister.

He added that it is not enough for the government to have good
intentions: the political forces in Parliament need to agree on
common priorities in this area as well.

Ivanov said that the separation of Bulgaria and Romania in the
CVM monitoring was not discussed during his EC meetings.
According to him, the differences between the two countries will
be taken into account in future reports and could have
political ramifications, including that Bulgaria may find it
harder to stay in the same duo with a country, which seems to be
moving much further up.

According to Ivanov, Bulgaria has all the capacity to make
noticeable progress in the near future - not by December,
though. "What Bulgaria needs to show is a succession of steps in
the right direction which is indicative of the irreversibility
of reforms but is something we have not been very good at."

The Justice Minister said it is not true that nothing is being
done in the field of the judicial system "but the key element is
to have a clear political consensus and show legislative
action". In the course of two to three years, Bulgaria could
make substantial progress and a series of actions in the right
direction, he noted. "We have the human resources and know what
has to be done," Ivanov said.

Ivanov has familiarized the EC with the draft of the Updated
Strategy to Continue the Reform of the Judicial System. It was
important to stress that many political forces see the judicial
reform as an important area to work on, he said, adding that his
main goal to start discussing an action plan has been achieved.


"It is important to clearly acknowledge the problems. Next comes
the systematic - not just individual - corruption. We must show
measures which are adequate to the defined problems," he said.

Ivanov noted that Romania has a National Integrity Agency which
has shown good results, but said that creating such a body in
Bulgaria would probably not be a step in the right direction.
"It's rather more important that we work on a broader front,
that we create conditions that would allow all bodies with
anti-corruption functions to start working better," Ivanov said.


He noted that the EC is expecting the prosecuting magistracy to
work better and courts to be more independent. According to him,
serious progress requires that the efforts to reform the
judicial system are matched by an equal comprehensiveness and
scope of reforms in the police and Interior Ministry. He said
this is the main challenge for the next government - to put the
Interior Ministry reform on the agenda.