Bulgaarse Eurocommissaris Kuneva bekritiseert administratief systeem Bulgarije (en)
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Bulgarian EU commissioner Meglena Kuneva has strongly criticised the administration in her home country and called on Sofia to reform it by "using" its human capital in a better and more efficient way.
Speaking to a group of Bulgarian journalists on Tuesday (15 April), the commissioner, in charge of consumer protection, said that her country was failing to make proper use of its young well-educated workforce.
Bulgarians sent to the European Commission as national experts, she noted, would be given posts no higher than "junior experts" if they decided to go back one day. She added: "If, of course, the administration wants them at all. If it is not too mad at [them] for having been in Brussels and interrupts their contracts. How does this happen?" the commissioner said.
Instead, she argued, they should be well integrated into the administrative system as soon as they go back, "so that [Bulgaria] can have good projects, because these people know how things work here [in Brussels]. Does anyone care about that?"
Poor administrative capacity is her country's biggest problem, said the commissioner, who is the country's highest EU official, and Sofia should mainly focus on "finding the right people for the right places."
"The attitude towards the people who can and the tolerance towards the people who can't is the same," said the commissioner, who herself spent 13 years in the Bulgarian administration before becoming a minister.
Criticism of corruption
The former Bulgarian EU minister has been in charge of the consumer protection portfolio in the current European Commission since the country joined the EU in January 2007.
Unusually outspoken on national issues for a European commissioner, she had already criticised her home country before on this and other issues.
Most recently, following killings and corruption scandals in Bulgaria, she called on Sofia "not to waste time denying that there are problems in the justice and security sectors," but to look into possible solutions.
The European Commission will in July publish a report on Bulgaria's progress in meeting EU norms, particularly in the justice and home affairs area.
If progress in this area is judged insufficient, a so-called safeguard clause could be activated - something that would result in stopping police and judicial cooperation between Bulgaria and the rest of the EU.
The report is part of a close post-accession monitoring mechanism put in place for both Bulgaria and Romania in exchange for allowing the two countries become full EU members in 2007 despite shortcomings in the fight against corruption and organised crime.
It is up to Sofia how it will use the time left before the release of the report, as what the commission wants to see are results, Ms Kuneva said.
"This verification mechanism is about the results [we achieve], not about our plans," she underlined.