site.btaEuropean Commission Vice President Discusses Juncker Plan with Bulgarian Prime Minister

European Commission Vice President Discusses Juncker Plan with Bulgarian Prime Minister

Sofia, June 3 (BTA) - European Commission Vice President for Budget and Human Resources Kristalina Georgieva said in Sofia Friday that she and Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov had discussed the investment opportunities which the Commission's Juncker Plan offers to the country. Georgieva joined a discussion on the Juncker Plan in the Bulgarian capital.

Her working meeting with Borissov was also attended by Deputy Prime Minister for EU Funds and Economic Policy Tomislav Donchev and Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov. They looked at the building of a natural gas interconnector between Bulgaria and Greece, among other projects.

"We will find a way to support Bulgarian projects with EU funding," Georgieva said. She urged business people to learn how to work with financing instruments other than grants, because this is the future for Europe. "We need to learn how to use private money for projects, not just money from Europe," she said.

Georgieva believes the Juncker Plan is as important today as it was at the beginning. It was created to address the investment shortage in Europe and to propel growth. "The achievements so far are very good. Using about 13 billion euro, we generated over 100 billion euro in investments in Europe," she said. The funding of projects of small and medium-sized enterprises is going well and the European Commission is ready to increase its aid to this segment by 500 million euro. There are still difficulties with the approval of projects of large corporations, she added.

The discussion on the Juncker Plan also involved Regional Development and Public Works Minister Liliyana Pavlova, Deputy Prime Minister and Education and Science Minister Meglena Kuneva, Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov, Confederation of Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria President Kiril Domouschiev, Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova, members of Parliament and entrepreneurs.