Bulgarian and Romanian MEPs have opposed the cooperation and verification mechanism of the European Commission (CVM) deployed to monitor reforms in the sphere of justice and home affairs in the two countries for the past six years.

EC representatives, however, argued that the monitoring mechanism had to remain in place until the two countries had solved problems in the judiciary and in the spheres of combating corruption and organized crime, according to reports of dnevnik.bg.

The majority of MEPs who took part in the debate at the European Parliament late on Wednesday agreed that the CVM had done a good job but could not be left in place, given that there was no deadline for its functioning and the evaluation methodology of the EC was unclear.

Addressing Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy, Stefan F?le, the participants in the debate claimed that if the CVM was not terminated, the least that could be done was to set a deadline and clear-cut criteria for its implementation.

All four Bulgarian MEPs who took part in the debate, including Iliyana Yotova, Monika Panayotova, Maria Gabriel, and Andrey Kovachev, agreed with the claims, saying that the mechanism had had a positive impact but it had already been exhausted and no longer fulfilled the purpose for which it had been created.

The MEPs suggested that the CVM was mostly used for domestic purposes not so much for the development of the two most recent EU Member States.

They called on the EC to develop standards against corruption and problems in the judiciary for the entire EU because the weaknesses were observable in other places apart from Bulgaria and Romania.

Commissioner F?le, however, opposed the demand for a deadline for the CVM, stressing that nobody had called for a deadline for the implementation of the criteria.

He emphasized that the EC would keep the monitoring mechanism in place for the two countries until the final goal was achieved.

The EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy described the CVM as an important tool for achieving progress and supporting the efforts of Bulgaria and Romania to deliver sustainable results.

He underscored that problems in the judiciary and the fight against corruption mostly affected European citizens and this was the main reason why the EC would not quit the CVM mechanism.

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