I would like to congratulate you on Bulgaria's successes, in particular on the completion of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism and your accession to Schengen. I know that my next visit will be after your accession to the Schengen area by air. With regard to the rule of law, this is extremely important for the EU. Guarantees for this are very important for the EU and national parliaments.
This is what EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders said during his hearing in the joint meeting of the Committee on the European Union, Schengen and the Euro Area, the Committee on Constitutional Affairs and the Committee on Legal Affairs, reports BGNES.
Reynders presented the European Commission's Rule of Law Report 2023. Reynders said that he had already held talks with Justice Minister Atanas Slavov and they had discussed the report. "With the new report we are moving to concrete recommendations for each member state. We have four chapters for each member state", he explained.
"Regarding the system and the independence of the system, we are looking at the responsibility of the prosecutor general, building on the findings of previous reports and the commitments made to Bulgaria in previous periods. Further steps need to be taken with regard to the independence of judges and the digitalisation of justice", Reynders believes.
"We know that the national anti-corruption strategy continues", he said and reminded about the reform of the KPKOPI. According to him, our country's actions are in the right direction, but in his words there is still room for improvement in terms of the political independence of the commission's members. "We need to discuss details regarding the appointment of the commission members," he said.
Reynders said that a working group was about to start monitoring respect for freedom of expression and the protection of journalists from persecution. "The protection of journalists remains a very important issue and we need to work for better transparency on media ownership," the commissioner insisted.
In a report for 2023, Bulgaria received several recommendations - accelerate efforts to fill the composition of the SJC, have an appropriate mechanism to sanction state funds for advertisements allocated to different media, etc. The Commission will report to the member states on inviting Albania, Serbia, the RSM to participate in negotiations on participation in the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism", he added.
"Bulgaria has been an active member in the rule of law process since your accession to the EU. The dialogue should continue and I hope we will get support to strengthen the rule of law.
I hope you will support us in providing military assistance to Ukraine," the Commissioner said.
He also commented on what should be done to ensure the independence of people in the legal system. "You have to take into account the recommendations of very important bodies. We are working on a lot of reforms, but it is very important to follow the recommendations. Ultimately what is very important is the independence of the members of the legal system. It is very important to make sure that you have qualified people and that they are politically independent," Reynders said. /BGNES
