EC Spokesman: Bulgaria Has Greater Commitment to Reform than Romania
Bulgaria is currently demonstrating a stronger political commitment to reform than Romania, according to European Commission Spokesperson Mark Gray.
Speaking on Deutsche Welle Romania, Gray has commented on the recently published EC progress reports on Bulgaria and Romania by declaring that Bulgaria had a greater level of political will to achieve progress.
He has pointed out that the two reports are very different. As far as Bulgaria is concerned, the Commission has for the first time noted specific accusations and sentences, which, though insufficient, are a prove that the country is going in the right direction.
Secondly, Gray has praised Bulgaria for having a very clear strategy with respect to the judiciary that it did not have a year ago. He mentioned that the major recommendations for Bulgaria have to do with the conflict of interests and public procurement procedures.
"The political commitment in Romania is not the same, and even the judiciary is not interested in cooperating and taking responsibility," the EC Spokesperson said.
He pointed out that the Commission has accounted for Romania's progress but has criticized the authorities in Bucharest for recent legislative changes with respect to the National Integrity Agency which has compromised the institutions powers with respect to transparency.