Interview: Bulgaria wrongly portrayed as EU's 'bogeyman'[fr][de] 

Andreas Geiger, a lobbyist for the Bulgarian government, argues that Bulgaria has a serious communication problem with the European Commission, illustrated by correspondence between Sofia and Brussels to which his firm has access. 

Geiger said: "Many of the problems which have finally culminated [with the negative report from 23 July; EurActiv 24/07/08] are due to just that, because the Commission thought that officials in Bulgaria did not want to do what they expected them to do, and the Bulgarians thought the European Commission was treating them unfairly." 

Now, Geiger believes that the situation has greatly improved. Many civil servants have been replaced and the new people in charge are showing genuine desire to combat corruption and modernise the administration. But Bulgaria needs "more time" to prove itself, he admits. 

Geiger observes that Bulgaria and its Socialist-led coalition government has been judged in a stricter manner than Romania, which has a centre-right government. However, he stopped short of saying the decision was politically motivated. 

"In April this year, we had the Romanian minister of justice resigning following accusations of corruption in his cabinet. In May this year, we had the minister of the interior in Bulgaria resigning over allegations of corruption in his cabinet. So we have identical situations. But in the EU report about Romania, it was said that the resignation of the Romanian minister was proof that the anti-corruption mechanisms in Romania are starting to work and [hailed as] a positive sign. With regard of the resignation of the Bulgarian minister, it was said that this was a clear sign that there is corruption up to the highest level in Bulgaria, and that this was a negative sign," claims Geiger. 

Moreover, Geiger believes that the current situation in Bulgaria, almost two years after EU accession, is no worse than the situation was in Poland or other countries of the 2004 enlargement at the same stage after acccession. He argues that the Union wanted to spread the message that further enlargement was not welcome, and thus used Bulgaria as a "bogeyman" to convey this message. 

To read the interview in full, please click here.