The European Commission said on September 15 it has decided to formally close the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) for Bulgaria and Romania, which was launched after the two countries joined the EU in 2007 as a transitional measure to facilitate progress in the judicial reform and anti-corruption, as well as on organised crime for Bulgaria.

"I would like to congratulate Bulgaria and Romania for the significant progress they made since their accession to the EU. The rule of law is one of our fundamental common values as a Union and both Member States have delivered on important reforms in these past years. Today we recognise these efforts by putting an end to the CVM. Work can now continue under the annual rule of law cycle as for all Member States,” Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said in a statement.

The last CVM reports were published in October 2019 for Bulgaria and in November 2022 for Romania, ruling the two countries need no further monitoring. However, for the formal closure of the monitoring the two states needed to implement specific commitments, which were completed in June this year.

“In line with the decisions setting up the mechanism, the CVM ends when all the benchmarks are satisfactorily met. Today's decisions reflect the Commission's conclusion that this is now the case for both Member States,” the EC noted.

The two countries will have annual reports under the Rule of Law Cycle for all EU member states.