Bulgaria slams Commission over progress report leak

By EurActiv. Leaks to the press by the Commission of a monitoring report on Bulgaria's performance in the EU have badly tarnished the country's international image, lamented Bulgaria's Deputy Prime Minister Ivaylo Kalfin, expressing his hope that the final report will be less damaging.

Kalfin, who is also the Bulgarian Minister of Foreign Affairs expressed optimism that the real Commission report, due to be published today (23 July), will be more positive than leaked versions , which denounced the "lack of results" in Bulgaria in establishing the rule of law and foresaw financial sanctions amounting to hundreds of millions of euro (EurActiv 18/07/08).

The deputy prime minister insisted that since the last monitoring report in February, his country had made a lot of progress in addressing shortcomings in the functioning of the judiciary system and fighting organised crime. He nevertheless conceded that the results sometimes need time to become more visible and are all too often subject to interpretation.

As an example, he noted that there had recently been 16 convictions in Bulgarian courts over money laundering charges, but it was up to the Commission experts to assess whether or not this constituted a significant advance.

A tarnished image

But it will be very difficult to deal with the consequences of the Commission leaks with respect to the country's international image and investors' trust, Kalfin said. He stressed that the Bulgarian administration bears no responsibility for these leaks and the harm they did to his country, although he admitted that on other occasions Sofia itself has been careless with sensitive EU information.

"This is unacceptable. We will discuss this again with the Commission, but this [the leaks] is completely beyond the scope of the co-operation and verification mechanism as I see it," said Kalfin, speaking to the press in Brussels. He added that this mechanism was established on the eve of the country's EU accession with Bulgarian input and that he still saw it as useful for the country.

Political attacks?

The Bulgarian deputy prime minister suggested that the centre-right political opposition in Bulgaria had played an instrumental role in prompting or encouraging the leaks, with the help of the European People's Party. The current coalition government comprises the Socialist party of Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev and two smaller Liberal alliance members - the National Movement of Simeon the Second and the Movement of Rights and Freedoms.

"First, [EPP-ED leader Joseph Daul] quoted something from a report, then we asked the Commission for a copy and they said the report had not yet been written [...] Next week a German MEP - the leader of CSU in the European Parliament - is coming to visit Bulgaria, who from a long time claimed that Bulgaria had no place in the EU. He is invited by the mayors of GERB (a new centre-right political party established by the Mayor of Sofia, Boyko Borissov). It is obvious that they co-ordinate their actions very well," Kalfin said.

Last minute corrections?

Bulgarian diplomats told EurActiv that they hoped the final version of the report would be better than leaked ones. They are counting on the support of around seven to nine commissioners at their final meeting today for the necessary corrections to be introduced, just before the document sees the light of day.