EC reports that sanction both Romania and Bulgaria are correct and the mechanism was fundamental in challenging the two countries to implement key reforms, EC Spokesperson Mark Gray declared in the Bucuresti Punkt Bonn radio talk show set up by HotNews.ro and Deutsche Welle Romania. The official underlined that the simplest method is to sanction the two countries but if the EC can communicate clearly its specific recommendations, progress appears.

Here are Mark Gray's most important declarations

• the two reports are very difference: Bulgarian politicians have a stronger will than those in Romania 
• for the first time we witness trial courts against high corruption levels that take a positive trend 
• they have a clear strategy to reform the justice system which never existed
• there are a lot of things to be done, it is not perfect
• we launched recommendations and for the first time we pinpointed the conflicts of interests and public procurements
• the political will in Romania is not hte same and the judiciary is not ready to be accountable 
• we underlined the progresses as well 
• the progress Romania made in the last years is clearly a consequence of the cooperation mechanism