EU takes Sofia to task over gangland killings

EU takes Sofia to task over gangland killings

By Tony Barber in Brussels

Published: April 10 2008 04:25 | Last updated: April 10 2008 04:25

Two gangland-style murders in Sofia this week have prompted harsh criticism from Brussels about the failure of Bulgaria’s authorities to suppress organised crime in one of the European Union’s newest and poorest states.

Borislav Georgiev, chief executive of an energy company, was shot in the head in an apartment building on Sunday evening. Less than 24 hours later Georgi Stoev, an author who wrote about Bulgarian organised crime, was shot in the head outside a hotel.

The murders reminded the EU that contract killings, as well as police and judicial corruption and criminal control of parts of the economy, still plague Bulgaria long after it joined Romania as the bloc’s 26th and 27th members in January 2007.

“These shootings have continued to take place on a regular basis over the last couple of years and without successful prosecution. Urgent action is required in the area of fighting organised crime in Bulgaria,” said Mark Gray, a European Commission spokesman.

The murders occurred one week after José Manuel Barroso, the Commission president, visited Sofia and told the Socialist-led government that high-level corruption and organised crime had no place in the EU.

Even before this week’s killings, it was common to hear officials in some western European countries complain that it had been a mistake to let Bulgaria and Romania join the EU as early as 2007.

One EU diplomat said: “Once a country joins the EU, everything changes and you treat that country as a friend, as a member of the family. You can criticise them but your leverage has essentially disappeared.”

However, officials recall that doubts about a new member’s ability to “fit in” were aired over the UK after 1973 and Greece after 1981. Likewise, Cyprus has sometimes been labelled a bad team player since its entry in May 2004.

Concern about low standards in Bulgaria and Romania was sufficiently acute for the EU to delay their entry for 2½ years after eight other former communist countries joined the bloc in May 2004. Moreover, special clauses were written into the Bulgarian and Romanian accession treaties to grant other EU states the right to reject civil and criminal court judgments issued by the two countries.

Bulgaria is the EU’s poorest country with per capita gross domestic product at 37 per cent of the EU average. It has been allocated €11bn ($17.3bn, £8.7bn) in EU funds up to 2013, some of which is at risk if corruption continues at present levels.

According to Olli Rehn, the EU enlargement commissioner, much higher standards will apply to Croatia, Macedonia and other Balkan applicant states.

“Building on lessons learnt in the past, we also expect that candidate countries address difficult issues, such as judicial reform and the fight against corruption, at an early stage,” he said.