Vice President Franco FRATTINI
European Commissioner responsible for Justice, Freedom and Security

Speech to the Bulgarian Parliament

Bulgarian Parliament
Sofia, 24 January 2005

Honourable Members of Parliament, ladies and gentlemen,

This visit to the Parliament comes at an important moment in Bulgaria's run up to accession. As you know, on 25 October 2005 the European Commission has published a crucial monitoring report. This report outlined both progress and areas where considerable efforts are still required. Next May, we will follow up on the October report. We will then issue our final recommendation on the readiness of Bulgaria and Romania to join the EU in January 2007 as planned. Today, we are almost halfway in between those two dates. Therefore it is time to make an interim evaluation of Bulgaria's progress in the area falling under my responsibility: justice and home affairs.

There is a saying that "a good sermon should have a good beginning and a good ending and they should be as close together as possible". Well, I will focus only on a limited number of issues which for the EU institutions and its citizens are of crucial importance.

The European Commission had noted with some concern that the checks at Bulgaria's borders and in particular at the sea borders were not conducted in line with the relevant acquis. We now have a better picture of the situation and we believe that Bulgaria is in a position to ensure the requested high level of control at its borders upon accession. However, this will require further efforts to put in place modern equipment and infrastructure, to continue recruitment and training of additional staff, to increase the know-how on applying risk analysis and last but not least to eradicate corruption at the borders.

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The fight against corruption indeed remains in the focus of our attention. In April 2005 the first ever JHA Council Resolution on corruption has been adopted. It was based on the Commission's Communication to the Council of May 2003 on a comprehensive EU policy against corruption. Besides a clear high level political commitment against all forms of corruption, this resolution sets out a comprehensive work plan for Council, Member States and the Commission to further promote their efforts in this area.

Bulgaria also has made considerable progress over the past years. An anti-corruption strategy was developed and an action plan was implemented. It resulted in a noticeable decrease of petty corruption. This positive trend has been recognised by various international organisations and by the Bulgarian NGO community. However, it did not result in considerable progress as far as the fight against corruption in law enforcement agencies is concerned. Also high level corruption remains an area where we expect Bulgaria to take firm measures. I understood that a new multi-annual anti-corruption strategy is under preparation. Clearly, if something is worth doing, it is worth doing well. Hence my plea to give a strong signal to both the Bulgarian citizens and to the EU by focusing strongly in the new strategy on prevention and prosecution of those two types of corruption.

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Establishing honest and uncorrupt institutions will certainly be a major step towards curtailing organised crime. I am aware that Bulgaria is facing a particular challenge in this respect and I should not repeat what the Commission wrote in its October report. Its publication unfortunately coincided with one of the most shocking killings of last year, the murder of top-banker Emil Kuylev. Since the end of October, the Ministry of Interior has done its utmost to turn the tide. However, as Sir Winston Churchill once said « Sometimes it is not enough to do our best, we must do what is requested ».

What is requested from Bulgaria is a zero-tolerance policy against organised crime. This requires a multi-disciplinary approach and an unequivocal commitment of a wide range of state institutions. Prevention of organised crime also includes a firm tax policy and a better control over weapons circulating in the country. The fight against organised crime and for that matter the fight against terrorism, could also become more effective if measures are taken to fight money laundering and to deprive criminals from their illegal sources of income.

Bulgaria - as future EU MS - cannot be seen as a safe-haven for criminals, be it Bulgarians or foreigners. Therefore, the climate of impunity has to disappear. A pro-active policy of investigation and prosecution by the respective bodies has to be pursued. Criminals should be aware that they risk long prison sentences when not obeying the law in Bulgaria. Since actions speak louder than words, now is the time to take urgent, immediate and substantial actions leading to visible results in the fight against various types of organised crime.

Let me underline though, that organised crime is not a Bulgarian problem only. Also the EU had to take measures to fight this threat. Following up on the Hague Programme, the Commission has presented a Communication entitled "Developing a strategic concept on tackling organised crime". The aim is to further harmonise EU Member States approaches towards organised crime which is becoming more and more international.

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This brings me to the last point which I want to address. Since I believe that "honesty is the best policy", I will not hide from you that the Commission's expectations with regard to a thorough reform of the judiciary are very high. I am aware that the Parliament will soon vote Constitutional amendments related to the latter.

Experience has shown that success is where preparation and opportunity meet. I am convinced that Bulgaria can be successful when seizing this opportunity of revising the Constitution to transpose the numerous recommendations for making the justice system more transparent, accountable and efficient. I call upon each member of the Bulgarian Parliamentary Assembly to be aware of the historical character of this constitutional revision and therefore to be ambitious in the proposals you will vote.

We have witnessed the indispensable first step towards a more efficient penal justice system with the adoption in October 2005 of a new Penal Procedures Code. This Code should remedy the so far very cumbersome pre-trial phase. We do believe that it contains a number of improvements but we also believe that it may not be sufficient. Especially the procedures for evidence gathering and evidence admissibility to courts could further be improved and I would invite you to reflect on this.

The European Commission has also repeatedly raised the need to introduce the principle of accountability of the magistracy. This should be seen as the backside of the coin called "independence". Judges have to be independent and Bulgaria has chosen for a system which also grants independence to prosecutors and investigators. However, magistrates while being independent should not be untouchable but fully accountable for their performances. This starts with the establishment of a transparent evaluation system, which should be the basis for the magistrates' career, for promotions, but also for demotions. Magistrates should never be above the law and should be the first to embrace the highest moral standards.

The European Commission has been working extensively on the principle of mutual recognition in criminal and civil matters, which by now is considered to be the cornerstone of judicial co-operation in the European Union. The successful application of this principle can only work if all EU Member States have full trust and confidence in each other's justice systems. Hence the utmost importance for Bulgaria to create the necessary conditions so that by the time of its accession all other EU Member States do trust the Bulgarian justice system and the judgements issued by it.

It should be clear that an efficient, independent and accountable justice system should be established first and foremost for the benefit of the Bulgarian citizen and not for the sake of "Brussels" only.

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Honourable Members of Parliament, ladies and gentlemen, let me assert my firm belief that the European Commission and the EU Member States have the intention to bring the fifth enlargement to a successful completion. I hope the EU can welcome both Bulgaria and Romania on 1 January 2007 and we have the ambition to do this in the best possible circumstances. If well prepared, I believe that the last part of the fifth enlargement is not going to be a problem. There is simply no other alternative for re-uniting Europe on the basis of peace and prosperity.

Thank you.