Despite attempts by Sofia to have some of the sharper criticism in the interim report from the European Commission (EC) changed, it said that Bulgaria had not shown convincing results in a number of key areas. These areas included the fight against high-level corruption and organised crime.

Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev told journalists that the report did not have a political character and only gave a technical, expert-level assessment. Yet only hours later, Sofia came with a political reaction when the head of the National Road Infrastructure Fund (NRIF) was removed from his function, mediapool.bg commented.

Spokesperson of the EC, Mark Gray, said in Brussels that the report was fair and gave an assessment of the situation in Bulgaria and Romania. He refuted claims from Bulgarian side that the report was based on old data about Bulgaria's fight against corruption. Despite the fact that Bulgaria only delivered the current data on January 20, it had been included in the assessment, Gray said.

The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) refused to comment the report and instead assembled to discuss the situation in Kosovo, mediapool.bg said.
The National Movement for Stability and Progress (NMSP) said it wanted to hear the reaction of the European Affairs Minister before making its statement. Opposition parties started consultations on a vote of no confidence because of the "outrageous corruption," mediapool.bg said.

On the same day, Interior Minister Roumen Petkov, whose ministry is responsible for the most heavily criticised areas, published a letter from the US department of home land's secret services. The letter said the US secret services "congratulate the Ministry of the Interior for the successful operation that took place on January 18 2008 in Varna, Bulgaria."

The letter refers to the bust of a Bulgarian-American gang who drained American bank-cards.

"The professionalism of the Ministry of the Interior reflects very well on the image of Bulgaria in addressing these new types of crimes," the letter said.

The letter was dated January 25 2008.

The full report of the EC can be found on the website of the commission.