November 15 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria’s progress in carrying out a judicial reform and fighting corruption has gained momentum since May, after a slow start of the year due to early elections held in March, the European Commission said on Wednesday.
“While political uncertainty led to some delays in the implementation of reforms early in the year, since May the reform process has again taken on momentum, even if final outcomes are still to be seen, notably in areas requiring legislative action,” the Commission said in a report on Bulgaria’s progress under the Co-operation and Verification Mechanism (CVM).
Bulgaria has made significant progress on four of the latest CVM report recommendations, mainly related to fighting organised crime and amending the legal framework regarding high-level corruption, the EU executive body said.
“While the Commission cannot yet conclude that any of the benchmarks are satisfactorily fulfilled, it remains of the opinion that, with a continued political steer and a determination to advance the reform, Bulgaria should be able to fulfil the outstanding recommendations, and therefore satisfactorily meet the CVM benchmarks, in the near future,” the report reads.
In January, the Commission made 17 recommendations to Bulgaria, which the country should resolve in order to end the CVM introduced in 2007, when Bulgaria entered the EU. The recommendations are grouped into 6 benchmarks – judicial independence, legal framework, continued judicial reform, high-level corruption, corruption in general and organised crime.