EC Refuses Concrete Comments on Bulgaria's Wiretapping Scandal

Politics » BULGARIA IN EU | April 29, 2013, Monday // 17:13

The European Commission will not publish an extraordinary progress report on Bulgaria under the co-operation and verification mechanism (CVM) before the one due in end-2013, according to EC Spokesperson Mark Gray.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Gray, as cited by the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency (BTA), explained that the EC considered the wiretapping scandal as a one-off case which was to be handled by the domestic prosecuting authority.

On Friday morning, Bulgarian media outlets released leaked transcripts of wiretapped conversations between former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, former Agriculture Minister Miroslav Naydenov and former Sofia City Prosecutor Nikolay Kokinov during which the three discuss ways of impeding court procedings against Naydenov, who has been charged with malfeasance in office.

The leaked transcripts of the conversations between Borisov, Naydenov, and Kokinov came against the backdrop of a wider 'Watergate'-style scandal involving alleged widespread unauthorized deployment of special surveillance devices against politicians and businessmen during the term in office of Tsvetan Tsvetanov as Interior Minister.

The scandal caused tension to escalate in the campaign leading up to the May 12 early parliamentary elections.

"The investigation is underway, it is handled by the Bulgarian prosecutor's office, the Bulgarian authorities, they must decide on the next steps they will take. We do not intend to offer comments until we see steps which require our comments," Grey said when asked whether the EC was worried by the fact that former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov had been summoned to a questioning over the scandal.

"The EC stated very concrete requirements for Bulgaria in its report under the Co-operation and Verification Mechanism. These requirements remain valid. The Bulgarian authorities know what to do. Elections are approaching and the new government will have to continue this process. We commented on the problem with wiretapping in the last CVM report, we shall have to decide whether to comment on the issue again at the end of 2013." Gray declared.

The EC is to come up with the next CVM report on Bulgaria at the end of 2013.

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