EU Urges Bulgaria To Speed Up Reforms

Barroso said the Commission would issue a technical report on Bulgaria`s progress in February.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso called on Bulgaria to speed up reforms, particularly in the area of the judiciary, after it was stripped of EU funds last month for failing to deal with fraud.

"The reform process must speed up rather than slow down. We need a consensus in Bulgaria that treats the fight against high-level corruption and organised crime as issues of national importance," Barroso told a joint news conference with Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev.

Brussels stripped Sofia last month of 220 million euros ($285.2 million) of funds and said Bulgaria might lose another 340 million euros if it failed to curb corrupt practices and political interference in funding processes by the end of 2009.

Barroso said the Commission would issue a technical report on Bulgaria's progress in February and a more comprehensive assessment in the summer, but added: "We don't see yet the level of results we would like to see."

Stanishev told the briefing the government would do all it could to address deficiencies and argued that its efforts so far "should be assessed fairly".

The Balkan country has launched several investigations into government officials and businessmen suspected of funds fraud, but has failed to convict a single senior official of graft and has jailed only one crime boss.

Analysts say Bulgaria may lose more EU funds because deeper reforms are unlikely under the current cabinet, which has struggled to cut links between some officials and organised crime.

Bulgaria's opposition has demanded early elections over the failure to fight rampant graft and stop fraud with EU aid.

The move is unlikely to topple the ruling coalition, which has a large majority in parliament, but it underlines the challenge government parties will face in next year's election.