EC Denies Reports of Infringement against Bulgaria over Diploma Recognition

The European Commission has no intentions of sanctioning Bulgaria in connection with foreign diploma recognition, a spokesperson of Education Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou, is quoted saying Tuesday.

It was announced Monday EC could start an infringement procedure against Bulgaria over receiving numerous reports from Bulgarian students, graduates of colleges abroad, saying the recognition of their diplomas is taking too much time.

The spokesperson points out EC is examining each claim separately, and is in direct contact with the authorities in the respective EU country to find the best for all solution.

Infringement procedures are the very last resort in this dialogue, and they lead to transferring the matter to the European Court, not to EC sanctions, according to the EC representative, adding it is customary to have lengthy procedures when academic documents are involved.

The spokesperson further explains the delay with the differences in European education systems.

Bulgaria's Education Ministry has firmly denied all allegations of causing unacceptable delays in diploma recognition, citing data that 100 such diplomas are recognized every year with the average time being no more than two months from the application date.