SOFIA, Bulgaria — A EU report on Bulgaria’s compliance with recommendations to tackle organised crime and corruption and to overhaul its judiciary will make no mention of any penalties for the country, European Commission spokesman Mark Gray said on Thursday (June 14th).

Bulgaria and Romania should try to avoid the decline in democratic progress seen last year in many of the other post-communist countries that are now members of the EU, Freedom House said on Thursday (June 14th) upon the release of a new report.

The EU and Serbia returned to the negotiating table for talks on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) on Wednesday (June 13th), more than 13 months after the process was put on hold.