EUROPEAN UNION Delegation of the European Commission to Bulgaria

1. EUROPEAN UNIONDelegation of the European Commission to Bulgaria Donor co-ordination conference on Governance and Public Administration Boyana 28.03.2003

2. EUROPEAN UNIONDelegation of the European Commission to Bulgaria Roadmap for Bulgaria’s Accession to the European Union

3. EUROPEAN UNIONDelegation of the European Commission to Bulgaria Revised Accession Partnership (approved by the Commission on 26 March 2003) • It develops in more detail the short and medium term issues identified in the Roadmap; • The main priorities are: • Continuing the reform of judiciary and public administration; • Pursuit of economic reform • The priority measures are detailed in order to provide revised basis for programming of pre-accession assistance.

4. EUROPEAN UNIONDelegation of the European Commission to Bulgaria Roadmap – main aspects • confirmation on the irreversible nature of Bulgaria’s accession to the EU; • Commitment from the European Commission to support Bulgaria in its effort to join the EU in 2007 (own targeted date);

5. EUROPEAN UNIONDelegation of the European Commission to Bulgaria Roadmap – main purpose To help Bulgaria fulfill the Copenhagen and Madrid criteria for EU membership

6. EUROPEAN UNIONDelegation of the European Commission to Bulgaria Copenhagen criteria for membership (Copenhagen Council in 1993) • stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities; • existence of a functioning market economy as well as the capacity to cope with competitive pressure and market forces within the Union; • ability to take on the obligations of membership including adherence to the aims of political, economic and monetary union;

7. EUROPEAN UNIONDelegation of the European Commission to Bulgaria Madrid criteria for membership (Madrid Council in 1995) For full membership the candidate countries should reach the conditions for their integration through the adjustment of their administrative structures, so that European Community legislation transposed into national legislations is implemented effectivelythrough appropriate administrative and judicial structures.

8. EUROPEAN UNIONDelegation of the European Commission to Bulgaria Roadmap – content • It does not entail any new accession criteria; • It confirms that the negotiations will continue according to the established practices; • It indicates steps that Bulgaria needs to take to be ready for membership with particular emphasis on administrative and judicial capacity and economic reform; • It sets out benchmarks for the short term, medium term and by accession;

9. EUROPEAN UNIONDelegation of the European Commission to Bulgaria Roadmap – financial aspects • The financial assistance to Bulgaria will be increased considerably from the date of the first round of accession, linked to the progress in implementing the roadmap and to the absorption capacity; • A progressive increase of the assistance is proposed, which would reach the level of an additional 40% in 2006;

10. EUROPEAN UNIONDelegation of the European Commission to Bulgaria The Roadmap for Bulgaria on Administrative and Judicial Capacity

11. EUROPEAN UNIONDelegation of the European Commission to Bulgaria Recommendations on Administrative capacity • serious efforts are now required to develop and implement reforms to ensure an efficient, transparent and accountable public administration; • Transparent procedures need to be applied for recruitment and promotion, • providing qualified staff to ensure sustainability of reforms, • improving human resource management in the state administration, • simplifying and clarifying the legal framework for administrative decision-making, • and ensuring legal certainty.

12. EUROPEAN UNIONDelegation of the European Commission to Bulgaria Recommendations on Administrative capacity • Substantial strengthening of administrative structures to ensure that Bulgaria has the capacity for fully effective use of EC funds, including the reinforcement of its anti-fraud structures, is also necessary; • More attention needs to be given when the EC acquis is transposed, to how this can be adapted to the situation in Bulgaria and to implementation and enforcement capacity at national, regional and local levels;

13. EUROPEAN UNIONDelegation of the European Commission to Bulgaria Findings on Judicial capacity • Despite the adopted National Reform Strategy for the Judiciary, its Action Plan and major amendments to the Law on the Judicial System, the judicial system remains weak and there has been little concrete change in its functioning; • In order for the Bulgarian judicial system to be able to play its role in the further development of the economy and future enforcement of the acquis, the reforms already agreed on in the Strategy need to be fully implemented and work on remaining necessary reforms pursued.

14. EUROPEAN UNIONDelegation of the European Commission to Bulgaria Recommendations on Judicial capacity • Special attention should also be given to reforms to the structure of the Bulgarian judiciary. In particular attention needs to be paid to how investigations are carried out; • The issue of immunity needs to be addressed.

15. EUROPEAN UNIONDelegation of the European Commission to Bulgaria EU Financial Support for strengthening the administrative and judicial capacity in Bulgaria

16. EUROPEAN UNIONDelegation of the European Commission to Bulgaria PHARE projects on Public Administration Reform • BG 9909-01 "Training for Public Administration – Establishment of Institute for Public Administration and European Integration in Bulgaria“ - completed in November 2002; • BG 0103.02 “Implementing civil service reform” - started in March 2003 ;

17. EUROPEAN UNIONDelegation of the European Commission to Bulgaria PHARE projects on Public Administration Reform • BG 0103.01 “Strategic policy-making and co-ordination” – to start in the summer of 2003; • BG 0203.07“Strengthening the Human Resource Management Capacity in the Bulgarian Public Administration” – to start at the beginning of 2004; • BG 0203.05  ”Technical assistance to implement key measures of the Programme for the Implementation of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy” – to start at the beginning of 2004;

18. EUROPEAN UNIONDelegation of the European Commission to Bulgaria PHARE projects on Judicial Reform • BG9904 “Strengthening the independence of the Judiciary and the institutional capacity of the Ministry of Justice and to adopt and implement the Acquis of the European Union in the field of JHA” – twinning completed in November 2002; • BG 00.05.01 “Strengthening the PublicProsecutor’s Office” – period of implementation: May 2001 – May 2003;

19. EUROPEAN UNIONDelegation of the European Commission to Bulgaria PHARE projects on Judicial Reform • BG 0103.04 “Streamlining Bankruptcy Proceedings” - period of implementation: September 2002 – May 2004; • BG 0103.03 “Recruitment and training strategy for the Judiciary” – to start in the summer of 2003;

20. EUROPEAN UNIONDelegation of the European Commission to Bulgaria PHARE projects on Judicial Reform • BG 0203.01 A “Implementation of the Strategy for reform of the judiciary in Bulgaria” - to start in the summer of 2003; • BG 0203.01 B “Strengthening the National Judicial institute” - to start in the summer of 2003; • BG 0203.04 “Improvement of administrative justice in view of the fight against corruption” - to start in the summer of 2003.

21. EUROPEAN UNIONDelegation of the European Commission to Bulgaria9, Moscovska Street, P.O. Box 668 BG - 1000 Sofia.Tel.: (+359 2) 933 52 52 ; Fax : (+359 2) 933 52 33 ; е-mail: delegation-Bugaria@cec.eu.int,www.evropa.bg, www.europa.eu.int