Could do better

EC Report: Bulgaria Lacks Will to Fight High-Level Corruption

Bulgaria in EU

The upcoming Progress Report of the European Commission criticizes Bulgaria for its lack of political will to fight high-level corruption.

This was reported Monday by the Bulgarian National Television, which claims to have a copy of the Progress Report. The Commission Report is due to be released on Wednesday, July 22, 2009 - a day before the GERB party is supposed to be ready with its new government.

While slamming Bulgaria for failing to deal with corruption, the 19-page report is somewhat less critical than previous reports of its kind. It does praise Bulgaria for certain successes in combating abuse of EU funds, the work of the Inspectorate at the Supreme Judicial Council, and of the "Kushlev" Parliamentary Committee to seize illegally acquired property.

Yet, the Report states that all the already known issues are still present in Bulgaria: lack of efficient organization to fight organized crime and corruption.

The European Commission recognizes that there are already some sentences in Bulgaria but the punishments the convicted people get are minimal because they are able to strike deals with the prosecutors, according to the law.

The assassinations in the street are continuing, and well-known criminals are either released, or get minor sentence, which makes them look invulnerable, the progress report states.

The Commission believes that many Bulgarian magistrates are unwilling to start an investigation when they figure out that the accused people have "good connections"; that is why the EC recommends that Bulgaria set up special structures for investigation and sentencing those responsible for high-level corruption and organized crime.

The Commission believes that the capacity of the law-enforcing institutions for fighting corruption and organized crime has not been increased. The report cites the 14-year sentence of the formal director of the Sofia heating utility company, Valentin Dimitrov, but also points to the delayed corruption cases against Asen Drumev and Veselin Georgiev, and the terminated case against Mario Nikolov, who is accused of abusing SAPARD funds.

The Report's part on organized crime points to the sentences against the Varna City Councilors, Hristo Danov and Veselin Danov, and the drug boss Dimitar Zhelyazkov, but stresses that their terms are minimal, and that the Bulgarian justice system is yet to show that it is capable of implementing stricter organized crime sentences.

The Commission also criticizes Bulgaria that 20% of the Bulgarian courts do not publish their verdicts online.

The EC Report does praise the Inspectorate at the Supreme Judicial Council that has achieved notable results in the investigation of disciplinary violations and systematic flaws in the justice system.

The other positive point in the Report is the creation of a joint team of the police and prosecution for fighting crimes against the EU's financial system. The Parliamentary Committee "Kushlev", which expropriates illegally acquired property, has improved since 2008.

Yet, the EC points out that the Bulgarian law does not allow the immediate freezing of the assets of the investigated people, which significantly reduces the effect of these measures.

The Report also mentions that there are 110 registered Bentley luxury cars in Bulgaria, and that special operation has taken place in Sofia as a result of which 10 money laundering cases had been started.

The present Progress Report of the European Commission on Bulgaria in the areas of fighting organized crime and corruption is scheduled to come out on July 22. The following report under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism for monitoring Bulgaria's post-accession progress is going to be published in the summer of 2010.

In the fall of 2009, the EC is going to publish another report on the absorption of EU funds in Bulgaria.

Uncle's Comment: The big problem with corruption in Bulgaria is that the people at the top, whom the EU is asking to clean up corruption, are some of the worst offenders.Most Bulgarian politicians view it as their right to skim off the public purse.Until the big names are put on trial AND convicted no-one will take the anti-corruption fight in Bulgaria seriously.