E.C. REPORTS

The European Commission suspended payment to two Bulgarian Implementing Agencies due to misuse and corruption. In two reports issued on 23 July 2008, the Commission concluded “Reform of the judiciary and law enforcement structures is necessary and long overdue,” the Commission said. “The fight against high-level corruption and organised crime is not producing results” and froze the funding of the pre-accession PHARE and ISPA programmes which amounted to 468 million euros. If the recommended measures are not implemented by the Bulgarian government, the frozen funds will amount to about 1 billion euros.