Bulgaria – sticks versus carrots
This article, from Novinite, highlights what the EU can do if they find that there is a delay in agreed upon anti-corruption reforms by a government. In this instance the government of Bulgaria received a formal letter specifying the amount that will not be paid unless the required condition concerning the Anti-Corruption Commission is met. This payment is part of the second payment to Bulgaria under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP), which is approximately 200 million EUR. “ The only pending condition is the completion of the reform of the Anti-Corruption Commission - a key structural change intended to strengthen transparency and accountability.” This also comes at the time when the EU commission expressed its concerns regarding the arrest of Varna’s Mayor Blagomir Kotsev, who faces bribery charges. Bulgaria has the opportunity to fix this condition, after the initial request, they have a one-month deadline and if after that period, the Commission determines that the milestone remains unfulfilled, payment will be withheld for another six months.
Why should we care? This is a good example of using conditionalities in anti-corruption. Ideally, it would be best if the Bulgarian government had performed but this case does show that the European Union does have the capacity to withdraw support in cases where a governments haven’t fulfilled their obligations. What needs to be done, is for both CSOs and international donors to monitor the next steps taken by Bulgaria. So the next month will be clear as to how serious Bulgaria is regarding its anti-corruption commitments.
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