The European Commission is likely to lift the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, through which Brussels monitors the progress Bulgaria and Romania are making in justice and home affairs, in July 2012, according to reports.

This becomes clear from a draft of the upcoming European Commission report, which is to be approved and issued on Wednesday, July 20, as obtained by the Bulgarian National Radio correspondent in Brussels.

In the summer of next year, exactly five years after the release of the first monitoring report on problem areas such as organized crime and judicial reform, a comprehensive assessment of the achievements in this period will be made, to be followed by a proposal for the lifting of the mechanism, says the draft of the report.

For this to happen Brussels will demand that Bulgaria and Romania implement the recommendations of this year's reports and overcome the red flag areas.

When the two countries joined the EU, in 2007, persistent corruption and insufficient reforms of their jutice systems determined the set-up of an unprecedented monitoring mechanism, which so far led to the freezing of some EUR 500 M in Bulgaria due to fraud associated with EU funds.

Even though the Balkan states' accession to the border-free zone Schengen has been made conditional on their post-EU accession and technically completely unrelated monitoring, there is not a word about that in the European Commission report, according to the national radio.

The report on Bulgaria states that the fight against high-level corruption has not yielded the desired results and despite an endless series of raids, better results are needed in organized crime crack down.

It includes a series of findings and recommendations, concerning primarily the judiciary.

The report criticizes the judiciary for not making the necessary efforts to comply with previous recommendations from Brussels and says that improving the judicial practice remains a key challenge facing Bulgaria, given the long list of acquittals, pending and delayed cases.

The lack of accountability and not always transparent appointments of magistrates have also been singled out as weaknesses of the judiciary, along with the collection of evidence and witness protection.

The European Commission expects more from Bulgaria in coping with conflicts of interest and the forfeiture of illegally acquired assets.

The government is highly assessed for its political will. The report says that over the last year the cabinet has shown determination and responsibility in the implementation of reforms and urges it to be persistent so that it can achieve results.

The provisional text of the report contains no comment on the fight against corruption at the borders.

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