In 2007 Bulgaria moved from the 22nd to the 11th spot in the ranking of EU member states' harmonisation of internal and European law. Spain, Italy and Ireland are behind us, Bulgarian European Integration Minister Gergana Grancharova announced in an interview for Focus News Agency.

Since the beginning of 2007 we have adopted 695 stands on all topics on the European agenda. We coped with 95 per cent of the cases over which the European Commission criticised us and sent us letters of non-fulfilment.  

A year after the imposition of the safeguard clause in aviation the Transport Euro Commissioner said we achieved quality development and there are chances that the clause is removed even at the beginning of 2008, Grancharova told Focus News Agency.

The subsidies for agriculture were not reduced. The negative prognoses did not come true and instead of slowing down, our economic growth accelerated – in 2007 it is 6.6 per cent as compared to 6.1 in 2006. For the first 10 months of 2007 direct foreign investments increased by 800 million euro as compared to the same period in 2006. “This is extremely important because the membership perspective attracts investors, but the membership itself puts you in a much more competitive environment,” Grancharova commented.

The operational programmes were approved and the application process for them began. The challenge now is that the macroeconomic stability gets 'humanised'
and felt even by people who never thought over their lives in the context of European integration, Grancharova told Focus News Agency.