Bulgaria responded positively to the European Commission's criticism for its failure to curb corruption, crime and mismanagement of the EU funds, which was contained in EC reports released Wednesday.
Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov said in a statement that the critical remarks in the reports should be read and interpreted objectively, but should not be used to neglect and negate the work done by the country's institutions and the entire society.
"Bulgaria is going on its European way and the evaluations of the European Commission should encourage us to take some fast actions," the statement said.
"We are obliged to defend and draw attention to the positive steps taken in the sphere of legislation, restructuring of institutions and improving control and coordination of the management of the EU funds and programs," the statement added.
Parvanov also said that Bulgaria has to admit that there are serious problems with the work of some institutions and even the whole systems.
It is necessary for the legislative, executive and judicial sectors to reconsider their actions and take concrete measures, and to achieve results which will satisfy the Bulgarian society and the country's European partners, he said.
Shortly after the reports were released, Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev also said that it poses challenges for the country to make the launched reforms a success.
The PM called on the executive and judicial branches of the government to better coordinate with each other and urged the judiciary to accelerate its excessively long trials.
However, he said he will not dismiss any ministers and deputy ministers.
On the same day, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin, Vice Premier for EU funds Meglena Plugchieva, and European Affairs Minister Gergana Gruncharova also expressed their common opinion in a joint press conference.
They said the EC evaluation on the country, which contains many concrete recommendation, is objective and useful, and Bulgaria is willing to cooperate with the EC.
Bulgaria, which joined the EU on Jan. 1, 2007 together with Romania, is under EU scrutiny. The EC, the executive body of the EU, published reports on Wednesday on Bulgaria's management of EU funds, saying that reform of the country's judiciary and law enforcement structures is necessary and long overdue.
The commission, which had provisionally suspended EU funding in the last six months, decided to formalize the suspension of EU funding for Bulgaria on Wednesday and to withdraw the accreditation of two Bulgarian agencies handling EU aid.
EU chief spokesman Johannes Laiten berger said the commission is prepared to reverse the decision once Bulgaria has taken the necessary corrective measures to improve financial management and tighten control systems.
The frozen funds, which amount to almost half a billion euros (about 785 million U.S. dollars), were money given to Bulgaria to help it prepare its EU membership. The commission said it has also taken a formal decision to suspend infrastructure funding.
Source:Xinhua
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