19/03/2010 Monitoring
Strasbourg, 18.03.2010 - The Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has welcomed the progress made by Bulgaria since the last Assembly debate concerning that country in January 2000. The text adopted yesterday in the framework of post-monitoring dialogue* states that the ruling centre-right movement GERB (Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria) "has set ambitious objectives and committed itself to continue democratic reforms", in particular to guarantee the proper functioning of justice and combat corruption and organised crime.
Pointing out that the whole reform process in Bulgaria has been geared towards introducing European standards which allowed it to join the EU, the committee deplored the fact that, to enable the country to meet the strict deadlines set for that accession, some of the reforms "involved cosmetic changes that pushed them in an undesired direction". These included the amendments to the Law on the Judicial System and amendments to the Constitution adopted in 2007.
The draft resolution adopted notes "concerns and worrying trends", in particular as regards the functioning of the judiciary, the fight against corruption, the independence of the media and the rights of people belonging to minorities.
At the proposal of the rapporteur, Serhiy Holovaty (Ukraine, ALDE), the committee members call on the Bulgarian authorities to "consult systematically" the Venice Commission on important draft legislation, "address the structure of the Supreme Judicial Council with a view to ensuring the independence of the judiciary vis-à-vis the executive authorities" and set up a transparent system for evaluating the competencies of judges "to help dispel the widespread perception of corruption".
In addition, they should address human rights violations by the police forces, guarantee a greater diversity of opinion on national television, guarantee the independence of the media and improve the rights of persons belonging to minorities and ensure their respect.
* In 2000 the Assembly decided to close the monitoring procedure and to initiate dialogue with the Bulgarian authorities on a number of outstanding concerns or any other issues arising from the obligations of Bulgaria as a member state of the Council of Europe, in the framework of post-monitoring dialogue.