site.btaCabinet Says PM Borissov Will Not Attend Meeting of EP Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Sofia, September 9 (BTA) - The government press office said here
 on Wednesday that Prime Minister Boyko Borissov is not going to
 a September 10 meeting of the  Committee on Civil Liberties,
Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) of the European Parliament (EP).
 It said that the reports about Borissov being invited to the
meeting are false.

"Neither Prime Minister Borissov nor any other member of the
Bulgarian government has been invited to the September 10
meeting of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home
Affairs. What is more, the rules for the hearing of European
Commission Vice President Vera Jurova on the Cooperation and
Verification Mechanism, which is included on the agenda, do not
allow the Bulgarian government to express a position," the
government press office said.

The EP Secretariat has told the government that a Bulgarian
government representative was not going to be invited because
the aim is to discuss the position of the European Commission
about the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism.

By this Mechanism, the European Commission has been monitoring
the progress of Bulgaria and Romania in fighting organized crime
 and high-level corruption, and reforming the judiciary.

Borissov was reportedly invited, along with Prosecutor General
Ivan Geshev, to an August 28 in-camera discussion at LIBE's
Democracy, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights Monitoring Group
on the Bulgarian judiciary. They did not attend and the
Bulgarian authorities were represented by a deputy prime
minister, a deputy prosecutor general and a deputy justice
minister. According to representatives of the non-government
sector in Bulgaria, who were also at the meeting, the Bulgarian
officials came under blistering criticism over the way the
judicial reform is conducted. The meeting also discussed
minority rights and media freedom. NV/LN/