Bulgaria's mixed progress on its way to EU membership
On April 25 2005, Bulgaria's then-prime minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg, then-foreign minister Solomon Passi, European Affairs Minister Meglena Kouneva and President Georgi Purvanov signed the Accession Treaty for Bulgaria and Romania to join the European Union.
The treaty was the culmination of a crucial phase in Bulgaria-EU accession talks, and scheduled the date for Bulgaria to join the EU as January 1 2007.
The signing of the treaty, however, was followed by less positive developments. On June 10 2005, Kouneva received a warning letter from the European Commission. It said that Bulgaria needed to speed up its work on EU-related reforms. Otherwise an accession delay was possible.
Bulgaria needed to pay special attention to reforms in five of the 29 spheres under consideration. These included agriculture, justice and internal order, environmental protection, the law on association, and free access to services.
There were further complications after the June parliamentary elections. In the beginning of July 2005, when Bulgarian politicians appeared unable to agree on a new Cabinet, the European Parliament demanded a special EC report on the situation in Bulgaria after the elections. Parliament members said they were concerned as to whether the political crisis meant that Bulgaria would not be able to implement the required reforms.
Fifty-two days after the parliamentary elections, the National Assembly finally approved the composition of the new Cabinet. Ministries were divided among the three coalition partners, the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), the National Movement Simeon II (NMSII) and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF). Kouneva is the only member of the former Cabinet who kept her portfolio.
The new Cabinet immediately started work on compensating the time wasted during political negotiations. It accepted a new Criminal Procedure Code, a major move in regard to the area needing radical reforms, the judiciary system.
Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin said that the new Cabinet would accept most of the required EU-related laws by September 2006. Visible results were needed, because too much time had been wasted during Cabinet negotiations, Kalfin said. If the National Assembly managed to work efficiently, it would be able to speed up reforms.
On September 26 2006 the European Commission issued a long-awaited final report on the Bulgaria and Romania’s readiness to become EU member states.
Addressing the European Parliament, EC president Jose Manuel Barroso said that the commission had just adopted a report which concluded that both countries were ready to “take on all the rights and responsibilities as EU members on January 1 2007”.
Yet, Bulgaria and Romania were to be subjected to further strict monitoring, as the two countries still experienced problems in some key areas.
EC reserved the right to introduce safeguard clauses after the accession of Bulgaria and Romania on January 1 2007 in case reform progress was insufficient.
Some of the areas that require further work include the fight against organised crime and corruption, the utilisation of EU funds and increasing transparency in the work of Bulgaria’s judiciary.
In the end of 2006 Bulgaria also received approval for its European commissioner nominee. European Integration Minister Meglena Kouneva received majority support and is to be commissioner in charge of consumer protection starting January 2007.
A final step in the process is the selection of Bulgaria’s members of European Parliament. MEP elections will take place in mid-May 2007.
