SOFIA (Bulgaria), July 23 (SeeNews) – The European Commission on Wednesday warned Bulgaria that the country needs to show results in fighing high level corruption and organised crime and barred two Bulgarian agencies from handling EU funds.
“On Bulgaria, the Commission's reports states that reform of the judiciary and law enforcement structures is necessary and long overdue," the EU executive said in a statement.
The Commission has also adopted a separate report on the management of EU funds in Bulgaria.
“Today the Commission has therefore formally taken the decision to withdraw the accreditation for two government agencies in charge of managing pre-accession funds,” it said. The Commission has also taken a formal decision to suspend infrastructure funding.
The government agencies concerned are the Central Financing and Contracting Unit at the Finance Ministry and the Implementing Agency at the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works.
The Commission approved on Wednesday a series of reports on the progress EU newcomers Bulgaria and Romania have made in the areas of judicial reform and the fight against corruption. The two Black Sea neighbours joined the EU in January 2007.
After admitting Bulgaria, the EU set tough conditions for post-entry benchmarking, which analysts described as "membership under monitoring".
Corruption and fraud threaten with suspension the release of some 11 billion euros ($17.5 billion) in EU farm subsidies and regional development aid to Bulgaria for the period 2007-2013.
However, the Commission said that it is prepared to reverse its decision to withdraw the accreditation of the two implementing agencies as soon as Bulgaria takes the necessary corrective measures to improve financial management and tighten control systems.
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