site.btaEC, Bulgaria, Romania Have Common Interest to Finalize CVM

EC, Bulgaria, Romania Have Common Interest to Finalize CVM

Brussels, April 11 (BTA correspondent Nikolay Jeliazkov) - The Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) is not discriminatory for Bulgaria and Romania and shows where the countries are in their reforms, Vera Jourova, EU Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, told a news conference in Brussels on Monday. She was approached whether the CVM would not drive away investors as the latest EC Justice Scoreboard indicates flaws across the judicial systems of all EU countries and low public trust.

Jourova said that the European Commission, Bulgaria and Romania had a common interest to finalize the CVM successfully.

"But to finalize it we need to see the necessary changes in the legislation and independent judiciary. We would like to see progress in adopting the necessary legislation and Bulgaria has concrete benchmarks for this year. We need to see tangible results and the situation to be sustainable, so there should not be one-off decisions made by the government and Parliament which would be reversible easily," said Jourova. She added that Brussels will decide next year whether the CVM will continue.

On Monday, the EC published the 2016 Justice Scoreboard which gives a comparative overview of the efficiency, quality and independence of justice systems in the EU Member States. Its aim is to assist national authorities in their efforts to improve their justice systems, by providing this comparative data.

The report finds shorter duration of litigious civil and commercial cases and better accessibility of justice systems.
Also, less than half of EU countries have standards on measures to reduce existing backlogs and even fewer define the maximum age that pending cases should have.

The Scoreboard incorporates the results of different surveys on the perception of judicial independence. For countries where perceived independence is very low, the most notable reasons given included interference or pressure from government and politicians, and from economic or other specific interests.

The EU Justice Scoreboard contributes to the European Semester process by helping to identify justice related issues that deserve particular attention for an investment, business and citizen-friendly environment. It focuses on civil and commercial cases as well as administrative cases.

The EU Justice Scoreboard and the CVM pursue different objectives and have different scopes. The report about Bulgaria notes that one in five youths of working age is from Roma origin. The Commission urges the Council of the European Union to pronounce on a recommendation to Bulgaria to provide equal access to education for Roma. It adds that the Commission is monitoring closely the efforts of the Bulgarian authorities in regard to the participation of women in the labour market. Bulgaria has been criticized for the way it handles insolvency proceedings.