especially as concerns the police and penitentiary establishments. Regrettably, the vast majority of these recommendations have remained unimplemented, or only partially implemented. In the course of the visits carried out in 2010, 2012 and 2014, the CPT’s delegations witnessed a lack of decisive action by the authorities leading to a steady deterioration of the situation of persons deprived of their liberty. Subsequently, the CPT decided to set in motion the procedure set out in Article 10, paragraph 2, of the Convention. From the findings made in the course of the February 2015 ad hoc visit to Bulgaria (see paragraph 6), the CPT could not but conclude that little or no progress had been achieved in the implementation of key recommendations repeatedly made by the CPT. As a result, the Committee decided to resort to the exceptional measure of making a public statement.4 The Committee’s aim in making this public statement was to motivate and assist the Bulgarian authorities, and in particular the Ministries of the Interior and Justice, to take decisive action in line with the fundamental values to which Bulgaria, as a member state of the Council of Europe and the European Union, has subscribed. In the statement, the Committee stresses its commitment to continuing its dialogue with the Bulgarian authorities (see also paragraphs 17 and 24). High-level talks with national authorities 13. It is standard practice for CPT visiting delegations to hold talks with 4. This is the seventh time the CPT has made a public statement since it was set up in 1989. General Report of the CPT, 2015 ► Page 8 the national authorities, at both the outset and the end of the visit. The end-ofvisit talks usually involve the participation of Ministers and are the occasion for the delegation to present its preliminary observations. 14. The CPT has also continued to seek to intensify its ongoing dialogue with certain states by means of high-level talks outside the framework of a given visit. Such talks took place on five occasions during 2015. 15. On 27 January, the President of the CPT held consultations in Kyiv (Ukraine) with the Minister of Justice, Mr Pavlo Petrenko, in order to discuss issues of major concern related to the findings of the CPT’s most recent visits to the country (in particular the allegations received of severe ill-treatment and/or torture of prisoners by prison officers in certain colonies). During the talks, the Minister provided updated information on the action already taken by the relevant Ukrainian authorities to combat the phenomena of ill-treatment and intimidation in colonies. He also indicated that he and his Ministry were determined to vigorously pursue those actions in close co-operation with the CPT. 16. On 30 and 31 March, the President of CPT held high-level talks in Skopje with national authorities of “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”. The purpose of the talks was to pre­ sent the findings and recommendations contained in the CPT’s report on the October 2014 periodic visit to the country. The President met the Minister of Justice, Adnan Jashari, the Director of the Directorate for the Execution of Sanctions, Lidija Gavrilovska, and other officials to discuss the situation in the prisons. In particular, the treatment of prisoners and the conditions of detention at Idrizovo and Skopje Prisons were