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A government riddled with corruption and a country beset by crime. That's the European Commission's grim verdict on Bulgaria, a nation that was supposed to have cleaned up its act when it joined the European Union 18 months ago.
The Commission, the E.U.'s executive branch, accompanied its damning report on life in the Balkan nation today with the announcement that it is freezing E.U. aid worth nearly $790 million, stripping two Bulgarian agencies of the right to manage E.U. funds, and will order Sofia to write a new...
Bulgaria and Romania were subject to special monitoring when they joined the E.U. in January 2007, because neither country was considered fully ready to meet the Union's probity standards. But while Romania was criticized in today's report, the Commission is not stopping aid to Bucharest. (Bulgarians grumble that...
Romania's southern neighbor is a different matter. Already the E.U.'s poorest member state, Bulgaria has been counting on substantial E.U. help, including $11 billion of structural assistance over the next five years, to maintain economic growth and encourage foreign investment. "These reports are a reality check," European Commission...
The Commission report says Bulgaria's new anti-corruption agencies are effectively toothless and that there is no political will to deal with the fraudulent mishandling of E.U. funds. In one recent example, in February, police busted a criminal ring that had allegedly skimmed $11.8 million in E.U. farm subsidies...