Bulgaria is coming up with an action plan to meet European Union standards. Another one.

While the language in the European Commission reports on Bulgaria officially released on July 23 was diluted compared to that in leaked earlier drafts, an inescapable reality is that the EC froze about 800 million euro in funding, suspended two Bulgarian Government agencies from the EU funds process and had stark words about failings in working against organised crime and corruption and in judicial reform.

In a step reminiscent of previous measures by governments responding to EC criticism during Bulgaria’s pre-accession process, Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev told a special news conference after the report was released that his Government was working on an “action plan”.

This plan, he said, would be ready by July 25.

 “I will require concrete measures, proposals and deadlines for their implementation...This is necessary so that Bulgaria can present its efforts in a more convincing way. There is a discrepancy between the political will, which is a fact, and the achievement of concrete results,” Stanishev said.

Stanishev also sought to persuade his domestic audience that the picture was not that bad.

“Let us not chastise ourselves... Bulgaria has had some serious successes after one year of (EU) membership,” he said. However, he acknowledged: “There are grounds for criticism, to be honest”.

While the report included criticism of Bulgarian officialdom’s lack of responsiveness to assistance from the EC and fellow EU member states, Stanishev ascribed the report being critical to “difficult communication with some parts of the commission” and “the haughty attitude of some of Bulgaria’s low- and medium-level administration and their underestimation of the role of the EC”.

On EU funds, Stanishev said that “the truth is that Bulgaria is learning, everybody is learning, to manage EU funds, and the procedures are complicated”. He said that he regretted the EC decision to suspend funds.

News agency Reuters reported that EC President Jose Manuel Barroso called the reports released on Bulgaria and Romania on July 23 “a reality check - they show that both the Bulgarian and Romanian governments need to step up their efforts on judicial reform, corruption and in the case of Bulgaria organised crime”.

In a media statement, President Georgi Purvanov said: “The reports contain not a few critical assessments which we have to objectively read and rationalise. They should not, though, lead to denial and negativism, to disregarding and underestimating what has been done so far by the Bulgarian institutions and the Bulgarian society as a whole. Bulgaria is walking on its European road and the assessments of the EC of the progress achieved and of the presence of political will should encourage us to quick and energetic action.”

Purvanov added: “At the same time, objectivity requires from us to confess there are serious problems in the work of a number of institutions and entire systems - in the bodies of order and internal stability, in the fight against corruption and organised crime, in the efficiency of the judicial bodies, as well as in the institutions that carry direct responsibility for the transparency in the absorption of European funds procedures”.

On the day the official versions of the EC reports were released, opposition parties in Parliament tabled a motion of no confidence in the Cabinet, saying that Government incompetence in dealing with EU funds had caused enormous financial and moral damage to Bulgaria. According to the rules of Parliament, the motion will be put for debate within seven days of having been tabled.

Earlier leaks of a report by the European anti-fraud office Olaf and of initial drafts of the EC reports led to calls from the opposition for Purvanov and the Cabinet to resign.