site.bta Bulgarian Justice Minister Confers with EU Commissioners on Progress in Judicial Reform

Bulgarian Justice Minister Confers with EU Commissioners on Progress in Judicial Reform

Brussels, January 15 (BTA Correspondent Nikolay Jeliazkov) - Bulgarian Justice Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva conferred here on Friday with European Commission Vice President in charge of Rule of Law Frans Timmermans, Justice and Gender Equality Commissioner Vera Jurova, and European Commission Secretary General Alexander Italianer.

Bulgaria's progress in the judicial reform in 2015 topped the agenda. Zaharieva told Bulgarian journalists that she had been assured that the European Commission report under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, due to be released shortly, will be objective. In her words, the report will acknowledge what the Commission perceives as positive steps: the amendments to the Constitution and the establishment of a Reforms Coordination Council.

"The weaknesses will definitely be noted, too, as well as the lack of sufficient progress," the Justice Minister said. In her words, the sides had agreed that the adoption of the amendments to the Judicial System Act over the next three months will be important for progress on matters concerning magistrates' career growth, appraisal and integrity checks, electronic justice, and reforms in the court and the prosecution service.

"The discussion was very open and candid," Zaharieva. As she put it, the European Commission is of the opinion that Bulgaria is moving in the right direction but the results are still expected. "You know that they are interested in the way we implement the strategic documents we adopt rather than in what documents we adopt," she explained. In her words, the European Commission expects results on the cases of high public interest.

Zaharieva said she had confirmed to Timmermans Bulgaria's desire to invite experts of the European Commission and the countries that traditionally monitor this country to share in outlining the necessary steps that everybody expects. The Justice Minister specified that this will not be the first time that Bulgaria has used such expert assistance: this has already been done in the energy sector, in the Interior Ministry, in the Road Infrastructure Agency and in education.

"We talked about independence of the judicial system and the forthcoming important steps," she added.

It was expressly emphasized that Romania and Bulgaria will be considered separately, and that the European Commission does not wish to draw comparisons between the two Member States. It was hinted that the report on Bulgaria will be more positive than the one on Bulgaria. "This does not imply separation, the two countries have different achievements and weaknesses," Zaharieva pointed out. The European Commission officials specified that Romania performs better than Bulgaria in the cases of high public interest, in the fight against high-level corruption and in combating organized crime.

"The [Cooperation and Verification] Mechanism helps Bulgaria but, at the same time, the Prime Minister would like this mechanism to be developed further. We expect experts to come up with recommendations and prepare the reforms together with us," the Justice Minister added.