Corruption watchdog Transparency International supports the July 23 2008 decision by the European Commission to suspend millions of euro in aid to Bulgaria, it said in a media statement.

The EC announced on July 23 that it was suspending pre-accession funding programmes and barring two Bulgarian Government agencies from involvement in contracts for EU funds.

The announcement followed the adoption of EC reports on Bulgaria’s and Romania’s compliance with benchmarks set for progress against organised crime and corruption and in reform of the judiciary after the country joined the European Union on January 1 2007.

In a statement issued in Berlin, Transparency International said: “With anti-corruption reform faltering since EU accession in January 2007, the cases of Bulgaria and Romania show that EU membership is no magic bullet."

The European Commission reports are highly critical of both Bulgaria and Romania, although only Bulgaria will be financially penalised.

“Romania has enjoyed relatively gentle treatment in this round, but urgently needs to accelerate its anti-corruption reforms,” Transparency International said.

“The lack of administrative and management capacity and political will to undertake substantive anti-corruption measures hamper their success and enforcement. Immediate steps need to be taken to stop the misuse of EU funds and to investigate corruption-related crimes,” according to Diana Kovatcheva, executive director of TI Bulgaria.

“The greatest liability in Romania is that the fight against corruption has become a political instrument in the power struggle among parties,” Victor Alistar, executive director of TI Romania, said.

“This is why a national consensus on anti-corruption policies has failed and no high-level corruption case was concluded so far. We believe that any new anti-corruption reform must be designed on a purely technical basis and backed by strong political will,” Alistar said.

Transparency International said that progress reports, like those issued on July 23, should be compiled for all member states.

“Among EU member states, Bulgaria and Romania are not the only low scorers on TI’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), illustrating the need for stronger EU-wide anti-corruption controls and monitoring,” Transparency International said.

Transparency International said that it also had strongly encouraged the EC to further open the accession process to civil society – "which will be immediately relevant for Croatia and other candidate countries”.

This would enable a more participatory and transparent accession process but also give civil society groups a stronger basis for holding governments to account during and after accession, the organisation said.

“A European Union that works for its citizens must be free of corruption,” Jana Mittermaier, head of the Transparency International Brussels Office, was quoted by the media statement as saying.

“The fight against corruption in any EU member state, including Romania or Bulgaria, is a question of the integrity of the entire EU, and the right of its citizens to responsive, reliable and fair public institutions,” she said.