A firm date for Bulgaria and Romania's accession will be set in spring

Sofia, October 26, 2005 The Head of the Delegation of the European Commission to Bulgaria H.E. Mr. Dimitris Kourkoulas officially handed the EC Monitoring Report on Bulgaria to the National Assembly Chairman Mr. Georgi Pirinski

Bulgaria, as in previous years, continues to fulfil the political criteria for membership.

Overall, it has reached a satisfactory level of compliance with EU requirements.

Nevertheless, further action is needed in a number of important areas, which were highlighted in the 2004 Report.

There are a limited number of specific gaps in both countries' preparations which give cause for serious concern, read the conclusions of the 2005 Comprehensive Monitoring Reports on the state of preparedness for EU membership of Bulgaria and Romania, which was presented on October 25, 2005, in the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

In more than half of the 140 monitored areas of the acquis there are no problems which cannot be resolved if the current pace of preparations is maintained.

In some 10% of the areas, however, the state of preparedness of the two countries gives cause for serious concern, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said.

Without immediate actions in fighting corruption, absorbing and making good use of EU funds, ensuring a functioning home market and efficient border control, Bulgaria and Romania will most likely not be able to fulfil their obligations by 1 January 2007.

Even more than in the past years, Bulgaria and Romania need to take firm and decisive steps to tackle these issues.

As regards public administration reform, Bulgaria still needs to complete the legislative framework guaranteeing the principles of legality, accountability, reliability and predictability in the workings of the public administration. Further efforts are needed to enhance local and regional administration in the context of decentralisation.

Important legislative steps have been taken in relation to the judiciary. However, progress in the reform of the pre-trial phase remains limited and the justice system continues to suffer from a lack of accountability. The procedures for administering justice remain cumbersome and slow.

The main problem in combating corruption effectively remains the weak results in the investigation and prosecution of high-level corruption cases.

In the area of human rights and the protection of minorities, more effort needs to be made to combat efficiently the trafficking of human beings and to improve conditions in a number of state institutions for children and people with disabilities. Further progress is needed in the process of de-institutionalisation and in improving the management of the mental health care system. Sustained efforts are required to realise the effective integration of the Roma minority.

The major outstanding problems will be followed up in warning letters.

On-site peer reviews and specific consultations will be held to ascertain the steps taken by Bulgaria and Romania, and where needed,
EU will immediately render the necessary support
The results of this follow-up will feed into a monitoring report, which the Commission intends to present to the Council and Parliament in April/May 2006.

At that moment, the Commission may recommend that the Council postpone the accession of Bulgaria or Romania until 1 January 2008, if there is a serious risk of either of these states being manifestly unprepared to meet the requirements of membership by 1 January 2007 in a number of important areas.

As a whole, Bulgaria and Romania should be able to meet the requirements of EU membership at the envisaged date provided they concentrate all efforts on the reforms, the conclusions of the Commission read.

“Bulgaria and Romania have achieved significant progress so far in the preparations for accession. But, the jury is still out,” Commissioner Rehn said presenting the report.

Following the general elections in the country, Bulgaria has continued to work energetically on fulfilling the commitments it has undertaken.
However, should there be serious shortcomings, the Commission would not hesitate to apply all remedial tools, Commissioner Rehn stated categorically, adding that this includes not only the possibility of postponing accession by one year but also all other available safeguards.

“However, we hope the actions of the two countries will convince us such a recommendation will not be necessary,” the EU Commissioner said.

As regards the economic criteria, the EC report confirms Bulgaria is a functioning market economy
Keeping up the current pace of reforms should enable Bulgaria to cope with competition pressure and market forces within the Union, the experts from Brussels conclude.

Bulgaria has maintained a high degree of macroeconomic stability, strong economic growth, relatively low inflation levels, and reduction in unemployment rates, even if external deficits have further risen. It continues implementing its structural reform programme, albeit not equally vigorously in all fields, the Commission noted.

The report notes that progress has been made in most areas where improvements were suggested in last year's report, but a number of challenges remain.

Bulgaria will study carefully the Monitoring Report of the European Commission. The conclusions and the recommendations of EC's Report should give an additional impetus to our efforts towards full membership in the European Union, President Georgi Parvanov said upon receiving the Monitoring Report from H. E. Mr. Dimitris Kourkoulas, Head of the Delegation of the European Commission to Bulgaria on October 26.

The EC Monitoring Report should not be interpreted as closing the doors of the European Union to Bulgaria, the Head of the Delegation of the European Commission to Bulgaria H. E. Mr. Dimitris Kourkoulas said on presenting the report in the Bulgarian National Assembly on October 26, 2005.

The report is factological and as such contains no assessments or conclusions, he pointed out. It contains serious warnings because its aim is to monitor if the country's preparation process is going on smoothly. As for the five areas, on which it raises serious concerns, time is actually running.

The European Commission abstained from conclusions because we are convinced Bulgaria has enough time to succeed, H. E. Mr. Kourkoulas said.

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The world news agencies focus on the remarks in the field of the fight against corruption, organised crime and theft of intellectual property. The frequent show murders are also a ground for reserve on the part of the European public.