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Progress toward accession
Negotiations with Bulgaria
Negotiations on Chapter 24, Justice and Home Affairs, were opened officially on 27 June 2001, in the framework of the Seventh Session of the Intergovernmental Conference on the negotiations for accession of Bulgaria to the European Union, at the Chief Negotiator level. The opening of the negotiations on the chapter was preceded by the official submission of the Negotiation Position of the Bulgarian government to the European Commission in March 2001. In its Negotiation Position Bulgaria states that it adopts and will implement the entire EU legislation in the field of Justice and Home Affairs, and does not envisage any necessity for exceptions or transitional periods on the chapter. In the next period of the negotiation process (from 2001 to 2003) Bulgaria submitted to the European Commission four packages of supplementary information to its Negotiation Position. The documents take into account the progress of the country in the areas within the scope of the chapter. The Commission concluded that Bulgaria displays good knowledge of the acquis in the field and has made significant progress in its implementation.
As a result of Bulgaria’s consistent efforts in the adoption and implementation of the European acquis in the field of Justice and Home Affairs, as well as the country’s political commitment to reforming the judiciary, in October 2003 the Common Position of the EU concluded that the negotiations on Chapter 24 may be finalized.
The preliminary closing of Chapter 24 was agreed upon on 29 October 2003 in Brussels, in the framework of the Eighteenth Session of the Intergovernmental Conference on the negotiations for accession of Bulgaria to the European Union, at the Chief Negotiator level. The chapter was closed at ministerial level on 9 December 2003 in Brussels.
Updated on at Thursday, June 14, 2007
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