site.btaBill on Management of Resources from European Structural and Investment Funds Approved Conclusively

Bill on Management of Resources from European Structural and Investment Funds Approved Conclusively

Sofia, December 10 (BTA) - The National Assembly approved the Bill on the Management of Resources from the European Structural and Investment Funds on second reading Thursday.

The Council of Ministers, which sponsored the bill, said in its reasoning that Bulgaria will receive approximately 10 billion euro from the European Structural and Investment Funds during the new programming period between 2014 and 2020. The new law regulates the use and control of EU money provided to Bulgaria. It is a procedural law as it establishes administrative procedures.

It envisages that EU grant aid may be provided after a bidding process or directly to a specific beneficiary. The aid award decision will be set out in an administrative agreement with the beneficiary.

Entities which are not eligible to bid for a public procurement agreement pursuant to the Public Procurement Act, or have failed to fulfill a European Commission order to recover unlawful and incompatible state aid received by them, may not bid for EU aid.

A financial correction may be made to an entire project or a separate activity, agreement or expense item. The amount of the financial correction must be equal to the actual financial consequences of the breach. The correction will be determined by the leader of the managing authority which has approved the project, the law says.