The continuing reform of the judicial system and public administration, and the pursuit of economic reform are some of the main priorities Bulgaria has to address to meet the EU accession criteria, according to a proposal for a revised Accession Partnership that the European Commission presented March 26.

The Accession Partnerships are policy documents adopted by the Council of the European Union, on a proposal by the Commission, which identify priorities on which the candidate countries should focus their efforts in order to comply with the EU accession criteria.

The first Accession Partnership for Bulgaria was decided in March 1998 with updates approved in December 1999 and January 2002. On announcing the Roadmap for Bulgaria's accession to the EU at the end of 20022, the Commission stated that it would propose a revised Accession Partnership in light of the findings of the 2002 Regular Report and the contents of the Roadmap.

The revised Accession Partnership develops in more detail the short and medium term issues identified in the Roadmap. The main priorities it highlights include continuing reform of the judicial system and public administration, and pursuit of economic reform. The priorities as identified are developed within the Accession Partnership and short and medium term issues are detailed in order to provide a revised basis for the programming of pre-accession assistance to Bulgaria.

The Commission on 26 March confirmed Accession Partnership for EU hopeful Romania as well.

The Council's scheduled endorsement of the Commission's recommendations is expected to be a formality.

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