site.bta Comments on CVM Report: from "Well-grounded" to "Lenient" to "Pure Formality"

Comments on CVM Report: from "Well-grounded" to "Lenient"  to "Pure Formality" 

Sofia, January 28 (BTA) - Most parties in the Bulgarian 
Parliament agreed on Wednesday that the findings in the latest 
European Commission report on Bulgaria's progress in fighting 
organized crime and corruption and reforming the judiciary, are
 well-founded. They also agreed that one of the things getting a
  rare positive comment is a newly adopted update of a juduciary
  reform strategy. The ruling party saw in it a credit of
confidence in its government.

The report was released Wednesday under the so called 
"Cooperation and Verification Mechanism" which Brussels has 
applied to Bulgaria and Romania ever since the two countries 
joined the bloc in 2007.

GERB

Speaking to reporters, GERB floor leader Tsvetan Tsvetanov said
that EC's CVM report gives "a credit of confidence" in the
current governance. On the basis of the steps already made in
the area of legislation, the fight against heavy organized crime
 will improve in the coming months, the trust on the part of
Bulgaria's EU partners will be restored, and there will be
political consensus vis-a-vis the updated strategy of the
judicial reform approved last week, Tsvetanov said.

The GERB floor leader voiced concern with the fact that if in
the autumn of 2012 Bulgaria outstripped Romania in the judicial
reform, 18 months later Romania demonstrates political consensus
 on the matter. Tsvetanov admitted that in the past years there
have been no convicts from the high echelons of power for
corruption, which has been singled out as a liability for
Bulgaria.

Chairman of the parliamentary Legal Affairs Committee Danail
Kirilov commented that the report provides hope and confidence
in respect of the work for strengthening the administration of
justice and stresses the important role of the Supreme Judicial
Council which should spearhead the reform.

GERB also declared they are aware of the weight of the political
 responsibility and of the responsibility of the legislature
required by the report. GERB pledged to consider bills and an
organic law for the special services and amendments to the Penal
 Code. The party also said that amendments to the Constitution
in respect of the judicial power require broad political
consensus.

Reformist Bloc

According to the Right-wing Reformist Bloc, the report takes 
softer tone which is due to the broad parliamentary majority 
that supported the adoption of an updated strategy for reforming
  the judicial system on January 21. Despite the fact that the 
report is distinctively negative, it gives the new government a
 chance to do its job, MPs Radan Kanev and Martin Dimitrov told
 journalists. According to Kanev, Bulgaria above all needs a 
serious coordinated anti-corruption policy that could lead to 
actual results.

Patriotic Front

Patriotic Front Co-chairperson Krassimir Karakachanov said that
 the milder tone of the EC Report opened up an opportunity for 
the government, Parliament and all the institutions to work, the
  point is that this chance should be taken, instead of waiting
 for the next report. Monitoring is superfluous because Bulgaria
  is a Member Country, not a candidate country, said
Karakachanov.  He admitted, however, that many criticisms were
completely  justified.

Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP)

Maya Manolova (BSP-Left Bulgaria) said the EC Report on Bulgaria
  spanned four governments, so no one is guiltless about the 
state of the judiciary. Any attempts to pass the buck are 
inappropriate, said Manolova, adding that resolute steps were 
needed to overcome the systemic problems. She recalled that 
BSP-Left Bulgaria backed the judicial reform strategy, and now 
the Justice Ministry and the government must meet their 
commitments by introducing a package of legislative changes.

As expected, one of the main criticisms in the report is that 
the fight against higher-echelon corruption has not produced 
sufficient results, said Manolova. According to Chavdar 
Georgiev, the BSP shares the view that Bulgaria is making slow 
progress in strengthening the rule of law and judicial reform, 
and that the results are neither good nor sufficient.

Movement for Rights and Freedoms

Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) leader Lyutvi Mestan told
 a news briefing his party will be part of the effort to fulfill
 the recommendations of the European Commission to make sure the
 CVM is scrapped. He called the report "impressively objective"
and said the assessment applies to "at least three Bulgarian
governments". 
Mestan observed that even after Bulgaria has transposed at least
 98 per cent of the community law into its national law, a
feeling lingers that Bulgaria is not fully integrated seven
years after its accession.

Bulgarian Democratic Centre

Rossen Petrov of Bulgarian Democratic Centre (BDC) commented for
  the press that he had expected the report to be even worse
than  it is. He said that the problems have built up over the
last 25  years. The key criticism is over corruption and the
judicial  system and any positive findings are over the judicial
 reform  strategy adopted last week by the legislature to show
clearly  the will of all political forces for a reform in this
sector.

He believes that Bulgaria should follow the Romanian example in
 combatting organized crime and argued that it will take changes
  in the Criminal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure and the 
Code of Civil Procedure.

Ataka

Ataka leader Volen Siderov commented to reporters that the 
report does not say anything of substance or change anything and
  is just a formality. "The European People's Party rules in the
  European Commission. Bulgaria, too, is ruled by a coalition 
belonging to the same European formation and it is only natural
 for the report to be a bit lenient," Siderov said. The Ataka 
leader said also that a recently published governance programme
 of GERB is a wish-list which lacks a vision for Bulgaria, for 
the development of its industry and for improving the living 
standards. MORE