EU-Report Accession Bulgaria

Accession Partnership and Action Plan for strengthening administrative and judicial capacity: Global assessment

Bulgaria's progress and overall state of preparation in respect of the Copenhagen criteria has been examined and conclusions drawn above. The present section assesses the extent to which the priorities of the Accession Partnership have been met and the measures foreseen under the Action Plan implemented according to schedule. It should be noted that both the Accession Partnership and the Action Plan have a time perspective of two years covering 2002 and 2003, providing for another 15 months for priorities to be met. Furthermore, much has already been achieved based on previous Accession Partnerships. The present one focuses on remaining specific and well-circumscribed topics identified as requiring more work to prepare Bulgaria for membership. Therefore the analysis below only focuses on these specific topics and does not give an overall picture of the state of preparation of Bulgaria in each domain.

The purpose of the Accession Partnership is to set out in a single framework:

• the priority areas for further work identified in the Commission's Regular Report;
• the financial means available to help candidate countries implement these priorities;
• the conditions which will apply to this assistance.

The revised Accession Partnership has served as the point of departure for the Commission and Bulgaria to develop jointly an Action Plan to strengthen Bulgaria's administrative and judicial capacity.

The purpose of the Action Plan is to identify jointly the next steps required for Bulgaria to achieve an adequate level of administrative and judicial capacity by the time of accession, and ensure that all necessary measures in this regard are taken, providing Bulgaria with targeted assistance in areas that are essential for the functioning of an enlarged Union.

Developing adequate administrative and judicial capacity for EU membership is a demanding and wide-ranging task, which requires detailed preparations in each and every domain covered by the Union's policies and legislation. In preparing individual Action Plans, the Commission has taken a comprehensive approach. All priorities from the revised Accession Partnerships which relate to the development of administrative and judicial capacity have been included in the Action Plans. Each of these priorities is treated separately in the Action Plans, and specific measures have been designed to address each of them.

In the following, progress in addressing each of these priorities is reported. For ease of reference and to avoid repetitions, wording from the Accession Partnerships is rendered in italics. As regards the measures foreseen by the Action Plan, implementation is checked against timetables and reported.

Subsections

• Political criteria
• Economic criteria
• Ability to assume the obligations of membership

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