Sofia echo 16 February 2010

EU envoys praise Bulgaria’s actions against organised crime, corruption

Ambassadors of European Union states in Sofia have sent a letter to Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borissov commending recent actions against crime and corruption.

Spanish ambassador Jorge Fuentes said on February 16 2010 that he had sent the letter in his capacity as the ambassador of the country currently holding the rotating presidency of the EU.

Bulgarian law enforcement authorities have made headlines in the past three months with high-profile operations such as that code-named &
quot;
Insolents&
quot;
against a kidnapping gang that had committed several lucrative abductions and more recently, the &
quot;
Octopus&
quot;
operation against an organised crime group with alleged links to security and police figures.

On February 16, the head of the Migration Directorate, Stefan Hristov, was arrested in connection with allegedly having helped foreigners linked to organised crime secure documents needed for permanent residence.

Bulgaria, an EU member since January 2007, regularly has come in for criticism from the European Commission for failing to do enough against organised crime and corruption.

Expectations that Sofia should show political will against these problems have been repeated to Borissov, whose Government took office after the July 2009 national parliamentary elections saw Bulgarians reject the socialist-led tripartite coalition that had been in power from 2005 to 2009.

Since taking office, Borissov and his ministers have moved against a number of former ministers in connection with alleged wrongdoing, and have axed several senior officials, including for alleged corruption.

In the letter sent to Borissov, he was told that ambassadors of EU states hoped that the recent arrests were a positive step after the most recent EC report.

Fuentes said that he had sent the letter because the Government’s &
quot;
important and courageous&
quot;
actions should not pass without a reaction from the EU.

It was hoped that this would be one of a series of moments in a comprehensive process, Fuentes said.

If things did not go well, there would also be a response from the EU ambassadors, he said.