site.btaEC: Judiciary Monitoring on Bulgaria Will Be Lifted Once All Requirements Are Met

117 POLITICS - BULGARIA - EC - MONITORING

EC: Judiciary Monitoring on Bulgaria
Will Be Lifted Once All Requirements
Are Met


Brussels, June 14 (BTA Correspondent Nikolay Jeliazkov) - The European Commission said on Friday that it aspires to drop its Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) monitoring the progress of judicial reforms and counter-corruption in Bulgaria by the end of its term, but such a decision will depend on the fulfillment of all requirements. The comment came from a Commission spokesperson who was asked to react to a statement by Bulgarian Justice Minister Danail Kirilov who threatened to resign unless the monitoring is lifted before this Commission leaves office in late October 2019.

The Bulgarian Government has long called for scrapping the CVM, which has been in place ever since the country joined the EU in 2008, but some recommendations still remain to be met.

"I can restate that the Commission's ambition, set out by [EC] President [Jean-Claude] Junker at the beginning of the mandate, is to close the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism by the end of this Commission and, ultimately, of course, the fulfillment of all requirements by Bulgaria is what is going to decide this, as we said in the last report in November," the Spokesperson said.

"I can refer you to our latest CVM report and other recommendations set out to Bulgaria therein, where you can see what remains to be done for this to happen, as President Juncker has promised," she added. RY/LN
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