Here are the two latest articles I wrote for the Verfassungsblog:

• Earlier this week the European Commission published the latest CVM report on Bulgaria in which it identified significant progress which could justify the termination of the mechanism for this country. Does this report reflect reality and, more importantly, how can we explain the lack of objective assessment in the report? You can read my article “So Why Don’t We Just Call the Whole Rule of Law Thing Off, Then? On Tomatoes, Tomahtoes, and Bulgaria’s Cooperation and Verification Mechanism” here.
• Bulgaria took legislative hooliganism to a new orbit last year when it used a Directive on the access to a lawyer as an excuse to revive a totalitarian practice: secret arrests. While those following the decline of Bulgaria’s rule of law like me were not surprised, it is disturbing that the European Commission has turned a blind eye to this development and to Bulgaria’s deliberate violations of the Directive for 6 years. My reflection upon Bulgaria’s and the European Commission’s failings in my article “How an EU Directive on Access to a Lawyer Became a Weapon for Secret Arrests” here.

If you are interested in daily updates on the rule of law in Bulgaria and the EU, follow me on Twitter @radosveta_vass.

More reactions to Bulgaria’s CVM:

• ‘Sweet Like Sugar, Bitter Like a Lemon: Bulgaria’s CVM Report’
• ‘CVM Here, CVM There: The European Commission in Bulgaria’s Legal Wonderland’
• ‘Vlog Post: The Failure of Bulgaria’s Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM)”