site.btaScientists Present Monitoring of Bulgaria's EU Membership 2014-2015

Scientists Present Monitoring of Bulgaria's EU Membership 2014-2015

Sofia, September 18 (BTA) - Education can narrow the social and economic disparities in Bulgaria, a study entitled "Monitoring of Bulgaria's EU Membership 2014-2015. Good Management" found. The joint project of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation and the European Policy Forum was presented by Prof. Katya Vladimirova and Prof. Margarita Atanassova at a BTA-hosted discussion on Thursday.

The third monitoring continues analysing Bulgaria's participation in the EU's various policies. The main subjects are the economy, social policy, management of the EU's Structural Funds and of cohesion policy, education, regional policy, energy and public procurement. The study was edited by Prof. Pavlina Popova.

Prof. Vladimirova and Prof. Atanassova, who worked on the subject of education and science, said that education is the area which connects the social and economic systems. They said that education increasingly ran into problems in recent years and both formal and informal illiteracy rates were rising, the drop-out rate from formal education was significant, and disparities started at a very early age.

Architect Belin Mollov, who presented good management in Cohesion Policy, said one of the achievements of regional policy in recent years was a strong planning process. He noted that the link between socio-economic planning and spatial development had been rebuilt, and identified the coordination of sectoral policies as a key factor in successful regional development planning, achieving an integrated approach, and an effective of use of resources.

In his analysis of the energy sector Stanislav Slavov recommends that efforts be made for a long-term consensus among the political forces on the strategically important infrastructure projects. He also argues against politically motivated appointments and calls for faster liberalization of the energy market.

Assoc. Prof. Margarita Shivergeva commented that certain progress was made in the absorption of Structural Funds, the rate being highest for Operational Programme Human Resources. An upward trend is also observed for OP Environment.