site.btaSofia Mayor Fandakova Confers with European Commissioner for Regional Policy Cretu in Vienna

Sofia Mayor Fandakova Confers with European Commissioner for  Regional Policy Cretu in Vienna

Vienna, April 21 (BTA) - Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova
conferred with European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina
Cretu in Vienna on Tuesday. They discussed the role of EU
funding in developing capitals and improving cities' living
environment, Sofia Municipality said in a press release.

At the meeting, Fandakova acquainted the European Commissioner
with the implementation of projects funded under the EU-backed
operational programmes, and invited her to visit Sofia. Cretu
will pay a visit to the Bulgarian capital at the end of May to
see on site the projects for the development of the underground
railway system, the construction of a waste treatment plant and
the urban development projects.

Cretu said that mayors are an important partner for the European
Commission and that capitals and regions play a key role for
economic growth and the provision of jobs. She also said that
capitals have the biggest capacity for the successful management
of EU resources.

During her visit to Austria, Fandakova also took part in a
meeting of European capitals' mayors in Vienna. She underscored
that capitals require a special status in the distribution of
resources in accordance with the scale and specific tasks they
have to solve. Through the projects implemented by Sofia, the EU
resources reach people directly and improve the quality of
life, she noted. In her words, Sofia's underground railway
system is used by 350,000 people a day and the waste treatment
plant will have an effect on over 1.5 million people. According
to the international rankings, the Bulgarian capital is one of
the fastest growing cities in Europe and manages to maintain
sustainably low levels of unemployment.

The mayors of European capitals adopted a Vienna Declaration in
which they agree that cities should be included in the European
policy-making process at the earliest stage possible and that
population density should be a criteria when allocating EU
resources. Attending the meeting were the mayors and deputy
mayors of Rome, Paris, Amsterdam, Warsaw, Zagreb, Athens,
Bratislava, Budapest, Ljubljana, Luxembourg, Valetta and other
capitals, the press release reads.