Ex EU Commissioner: Latest EC Report on Bulgaria Is Worst

Former EU Commissioner Meglena Kuneva has described the latest CVM report on Bulgaria as "the most negative". Photo by Sofia Photo Agency

The latest interim CVM report is a clear indication of the lost patience of the European Commission and of the lack of an overall strategy for judicial reform in Bulgaria, according to former EU Commissioner Meglena Kuneva.

In a Thursday interview for Darik Radio, she underscored that it was the first tine that Brussels was recommending a fundamental overhaul of the Supreme Judicial Council (VSS) and the prosecution.

Kuneva, a leader of the civic movement "Bulgaria for Citizens", defined the latest interim Cooperation and Verification Mechanism Report as the most negative since Bulgaria's accession to the EU.

"Although donations to police almost made it into a public register in a bid to comply with criticism in the sphere", the former EC Commissioner argued, "the practice, I quote "of donations to police still raises questions regarding accountability and financial transparency,

notably the risk of circumventing public procurement rules".

Defining public procurement as the core of EU funds, she said that criticism in the sphere entailed a risk "for highways and all of the projects the government is keen on developing".

"When the opinion of civic organizations is neglected or gets a hostile reception of the sort "they framed us in front of Brussels", and the opposition is treated in the same way, then the EC report is awaited with the utmost impatience so that it can say the things that they failed to say or could not get across," Kuneva stated.

She noted, however, that it was not only the government that ought to be held responsible for the criticism, but also the opposition.

On the topic of judicial reform, the former EU Commissioner remarked that the public attacks against Miroslava Todorova, Chair of the Bulgarian Judges Association (BJA) were very dangerous and the attempt to silence her turned her into one of the pioneers in the judiciary.

Todorova, BJA Chair and a judge at the Sofia City Court, filed a libel lawsuit against Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov on Wednesday over a series of interviews in which he suggested she was incompetent in doing her job and was abetting organized crime.

"We obviously have institutions riddled with inefficiency and corruption on all levels from police to judiciary. By saying this, I feel deeply sorry for both systems. Apart from that, the game of hot potato between the different institutions is yet another attempt to sidestep the problem," Kuneva argued.

Commenting on the case of Todorova, she lauded her resilience to the attempts to make her fall silent and suggested that the move had stirred public indignation and had earned her followers.

The former EU Commissioner concluded by stressing the need to identify and support the leaders in all spheres because "they are the first to be hit by the authoritarian system of government".

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