Bulgaria is to start a lobbying campaign among EU member states to ensure the ratification of the country's accession treaty. Foreign Minister Ivaylo Kalfin said that Bulgarian officials would present the case separately in each country. So far, the treaty signed on April 25 has been ratified by Slovakia. By the end of the year, Hungary is expected to ratify the treaty, while the Czech Republic is to start the ratification process. Kalfin said he did not expect Germany to be an obstacle toward Bulgaria's EU membership. Next week, Kalfin will visit Romania. The ratification treaty envisions simultaneous membership for Romania and Bulgaria and a separation of the two cases was not possible, Kalfin said. He said that the two countries would co-ordinate their lobbying efforts.
Speaking after his return from a visit of more than a week to United Nations headquarters in New York, where he held a series of talks with various foreign ministers and ambassadors, Kalfin said that he expected a critical evaluation from the European Commission of Bulgaria's reform progress. Bulgaria is behind on several of its EU commitments and needs to speed up reform processes, Kalfin said. The report will be ready on October 25. The EC sent a warning letter in June but Kalfin said Bulgaria was implementing reforms and the importance of the warning should not be overestimated, Sega newspaper reported.