On 1 January 2007 Bulgaria became a member of
the European Union. However, according to the
European Commission, the country’s judicial system
and law enforcement bodies still lacked the
necessary capacity to implement and apply the
measures adopted to establish the internal market
and the area of freedom, security and justice. The
remaining issues warranted the establishment of a
mechanism for cooperation and verification of the
progress of Bulgaria to address specific benchmarks
in the areas of judicial reform and the fight against
corruption and organised crime.
