European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes demands to meet with all relevant media players in Bulgaria when she travels to Sofia in September it has been made clear.

An article published in The New York Times reminds that the European Commission has vowed to monitor media freedoms closely in Bulgaria, where rival political and business groups have taken control of top news organizations and used them to promote their interests.

Kroes has pointed out that she is aware of a growing number of reports of reduced freedom of the news media in the Balkan country.

"I have also read about violence and death threats against journalists," she says, describing the situation as alarming.

At the beginning of the year, Reporters without Borders placed media freedom in Bulgaria on the abominably low 80th place.

The ranking showed that the Balkan country lags behind all other EU member states in terms of press freedom.

A conflict between the two largest press business groups in Bulgaria as well as "corporate journalism" undermines the credibility of Bulgarian media, the South and East Europe Media Organization (SEEMO) concluded in a report back in April.

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