site.btaEC Approves Two New Operational Programmes: Good Governance and Science and Educationfor Smart Growth

EC Approves Two New Operational Programmes:
Good Governance and Science and Education
for Smart Growth


Sofia, February 19 (BTA) - The European Commission has approved
Bulgaria's Operational Programme Good Governance (OPGG) and
Operational Programme Science and Education for Smart Growth
(OPSESG), which will be financed by EU resources in the
2014-2020 programming period, the Government Information Service
said on Thursday.

Operational Programme Good Governance outlines the priorities
and objectives to invest nearly 336 million euro (of which 286
million euro from the EU budget) to help modernize the public
administration and improve transparency in the judiciary.

Investments will address challenges related to the efficiency of
the administrations in providing quality, fast and affordable
services for all groups of society.

Around 118 million euro will be spent to reduce administrative
and regulatory burden on citizens and business. This programme
is the key funding instrument to support the improvement of the
overall transparency and accountability of civil service and the
functioning of public procurement systems.

The programme also focuses on e-government as an instrument to
enhance administrative processes and reduce costs. Improving
services will contribute significantly to social cohesion
through targeted measures aimed at increasing the digital
competences of the population and overcoming the digital divide,
the Commission said.

In addition to horizontal e-government systems, particular
attention will be paid to implement sectoral systems such as
e-procurement, e-health and e-customs.

Another 30 million euro will fund measures to increase
transparency and accelerate judicial proceedings through
structural, procedural and organisational reforms in the
judiciary; to improve the accessibility and the accountability
of the judiciary through the introduction of e-justice, and to
extend the scope and improve the quality of training in the
judicial system.

A dedicated funding of 62 million euro will finance the
horizontal structures responsible for the management and
implementation of the European Structural and Investment Funds
and the improvement of beneficiaries' capacity, as well as the
effective functioning of Unified Management Information System.

Over the funding period, around 100 administrations will be
supported to introduce complex administrative service delivery
and 144 administrations will introduce quality management
systems. The programme is expected to train some 175,000 state
administration employees and 25,000 magistrates, court
officials, officials of the investigating authorities. Twenty
municipal services will be supported for standardization and
some 850 e-services will be developed at the level of
transaction. Around 250,000 judicial cases are expected to be
managed electronically.

Operational Programme Science and Education for Smart Growth
will be the first of its kind in Bulgaria. It will channel over
701 million euro in addressing the most serious problems of
Bulgarian education. Investments under this programme will focus
on an improvement of the quality of Bulgarian education so as
to meet the business community's demand for skilled personnel.
The programme prioritizes a modernization and improvement of
conditions at educational establishments and research
institutions, and building capacity for scientific research and
development and innovations under the Innovation Strategy for
Smart Specialization.

The completion of negotiations on the two new programmes is yet
another step towards a final approval of the full package of EU
financing instruments that will operate in Bulgaria until 2020.
At the end of last year, the European Commission approved two
operational programmes of the new programming period: Human
Resource Development, with a budget exceeding 1,000 million
euro, and Transport and Transport Infrastructure, with a budget
approximating 2,000 million euro.

A fifth operational programme, Innovations and Competitiveness,
is expected to be approved in the coming weeks. VI, PK/LN, LG

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