Sun, Nov 08 2009
According to media reports, sources in Brussels say that cases against Bulgarian senior civil servants for allegedly defrauding European Union funds may end in amnesty. The same reports said that prosecuting magistrates had confirmed that several investigations into fraud involving EU funds would be terminated because of the amnesty.
In a week in which Europe and much of the world commemorated the fall of the Berlin Wall, it is notable that this new November heralded several changes of its own.
The drama around Bulgaria’s State Agency for National Security and former prime minister Sergei Stanishev is playing to the full advantage of Prime Minister Boiko Borissov.
Every kidnapping in Bulgaria spawns innuendo about the victim, that somehow the episode is revenge for some other deed in the underworld.
There can be little doubt that European Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn was correct to say that for countries in South Eastern Europe, the prospect of becoming eligible for negotiating membership of the EU has been a substantial motivation to reform.
It will be interesting to see how Bulgaria’s nomination of Roumyana Zheleva, ambitiously put forward for key portfolios such as energy or enlargement, is treated by those who really count in the bloc.