To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment she has made of progress by (a) Bulgaria and (b) Romania against EU post-accession benchmarks.

The Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) was put in place to support and monitor Bulgaria and Romania's progress on specific post-accession benchmarks in the area of judicial reform, the fight against corruption and, for Bulgaria only, the fight against organised crime. The European Commission monitors and reports on developments in both countries. The latest CVM progress reports were published on 26 January and deposited for scrutiny in the usual way. The Government has endorsed their conclusions, which offer a comprehensive, balanced assessment of the progress achieved so far while drawing attention to those areas where further efforts are necessary. We believe the CVM should remain in place until the benchmarks are met.