European Commission publishes progress reports on Bulgaria, Romania

The European Commission published progress reports Tuesday on Bulgaria and Romania in the field of judiciary and interior affairs. The EC praised Bulgaria’s efforts to tackle organised crime and corruption and its determination to reform its judiciary over the past year. But the document urged Bulgaria to do more to turn intentions into results, as many investigations and indictments fail to result in convictions, largely due to inert judiciaries and poorly trained police.

Romania is criticised for curbing the powers of its anti-corruption body, the National Integrity Agency (ANI), as well as for failures in its public procurement procedures and rules against conflict of interests, a criticism it shares with Bulgaria. The reports are published within the so-called Co-operation and Verification Mechanism, which is intended to help the two countries achieve EU law and order standards since their accession in early 2007.