Bulgaria's Foreign Minister Ivaylo Kalfin called for an effective fight against crime and corruption in the country after EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn's preliminary assessment on Bulgaria's progress.

The invocation of the "justice and home affairs" safeguard clause is particularly likely for Bulgaria, which according to commissioner Rehn has not progressed well enough in reforming the judiciary and in its fight against crime and corruption.

Kalfin explained that over the last months Sofia has made many things for the reforms in the judiciary and in his words really soon there would be specific results from that activity. Minister Kalfin underlined that all legislative reforms have been made and now their implementation should begin.

He also pointed out that Rehn's report is not the final one. Kalfin said that there are still things to be done, which will surely enter the final report.

Bulgaria's foreign minister highly evaluated Romania's progress in judiciary and home affairs. The fact that there is a considerable progress in Romania is really good, as the separation of the two countries might cause political problems and issues in Europe that could only impede the membership of the two countries, Kalfin said.

Also on Tuesday Rehn confirmed that the safeguard clauses might even be triggered after the EU accession of Bulgaria and Romania. This could be the case of the agriculture safeguard clause for Romania (with a focus on animal wealth) and of Justice and Home affairs for Bulgaria.

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