EC May Postpone Progress Reports on Bulgaria and Romania until September

The monitoring reports from the European Commission on the progress of Bulgaria and Romania in the field of justice and fight against corruption and organized crime could be postponed until September, BTA reported.

The reason for the possible delay is that the new European Parliament could block or postpone the decision about the second term of the President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso, sources from the EU commented for ziare.com

According to those sources, although Barroso won the support of most European governments, including that of center-left prime ministers Gordon Brown and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, EP can block or delay his re-election if European socialists, liberals and greens gain the majority in European Parliament after the up-coming elections.

The head of the Party of European Socialists, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, is an outspoken opponent of Barroso's reelection. According to some, he is also his rival for the position, the website reports. Lately he stated, that after the EP elections a new majority can be formed which could vote against a second term for President of the European Commission Barroso.

The possible delay of the report until the autumn was mentioned by Gunther Krichbaum, head of the EU Affairs Committee at the German Bundestag. He said the reason for the postponement was the national vote in Bulgaria which would take place in July.

European Commission spokesman Mark Gray said that no definite date had been set for presenting the reports on the progress in judiciary. "No decision has been made about the release date of the reports. This will happen by the end of the month after the expert missions in Bulgaria and Romania are over", Gray said.