site.btaEuropean Commission Restarts Payments Under Operational Programme Environment

European Commission Restarts Payments Under Operational Programme Environment


Brussels/Sofia, November 14 (BTA) - The European Commission (EC)
  has informed Bulgaria that the payments from the EU funds
under  Operational Programme (OP) Environment for the 2007-2013
 programming period are restored, the EC said in a press release
  Friday. The official letter was sent to the Bulgarian 
authorities on Thursday.

This means that the EC will now process payment requests from  
the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Cohesion 
 Fund for projects under this OP. The payments towards Bulgaria
  will now be restarted and the Commission will proceed with a 
 first payment of 166 million euro from the Cohesion Fund and 74
   million euro from the ERDF, the press release reads.

European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu is quoted
   as saying: "I welcome the positive steps taken by the 
Bulgarian  authorities to improve and strengthen the OP 
Environment's  management system. The payments towards Bulgaria
 will now  restart, which is excellent news for the Bulgarian 
economy, but  also for the future of the partnership between 
Bulgaria and the  European Commission."

EC Vice-President Kristalina Georgieva, responsible for Budget 
 and Human Resources, is quoted as saying: "The recovery of the
  funds under OP Environment is great news for Bulgaria. It
comes   at the right time for the country and its budget, and
shows  that  the European Commission recognises it when a job is
 done  well  and the rules are respected. The funds envisaged
for  Bulgaria  have to be used effectively, in order to ensure a
  better quality  of life for people. I would like to encourage
 the Bulgarian  government to make the best use of funds - next
 year will be the  last chance to benefit from the money of the
 programming period  2007-2013."

The press release recalls that in the beginning of 2014 the EC 
 initiated a procedure leading to a temporary suspension of  
payments from the EU funds due to suspected irregularities  
related to public procurement in the implementation of the  
projects and due to the weaknesses in the OP's management and  
control systems. After an audit mission in October 2014, the  
Commission concluded that all corrective measures had been  
implemented, which will significantly reduce the risk of errors
  and irregularities with expenditure in future.

Reacting to the news about the restarted payments under OP 
Environment, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov thanked personally 
all the MPs at the National Assembly. "Just an hour ago the EC -
  officially the Commissioner for Regional Policy - said in a 
letter to Bulgaria that it welcomes the positive steps taken by
 the Bulgarian authorities for improving and strengthening the 
system for the OP Environment management. The payments to 
Bulgaria under the OP are restored. This is great news for the 
Bulgarian economy, but also for the future cooperation between 
Bulgaria and the EC," Borissov said in Parliament.

"I came to tell you that thanks to all of you, thanks to the 
will of the Bulgarian MPs to have a parliament, to have a 
government, to be here together, and thanks to the fact that 
Europe saw that Bulgaria has a normally working parliament and 
democracy, 800 million leva enter the Bulgarian economy and this
  is because of all of you," Borissov told the MPs.

Deputy Prime Minister for EU Funds and Economic Policy Tomislav
Donchev said at a briefing in Parliament that the unblocking of
the funds under OP Environment is a sign of the returning trust
in Bulgaria. He expressed the hope that within a month the
payments under OP Regional Development will be restored.

Environment and Water Minister Ivelina Vassileva thanked her
ministry's experts from the OP's Managing Authority for their
tremendous efforts to improve the systems for management and
control. She also thanked the EC for the trust in the Bulgarian
institutions and the beneficiaries, who continued to implement
the infrastructure projects despite the suspended funding not
only from the EU but also from the national budget in the course
 of five months.
   
A series of urgent measures will have to be undertaken so as to
improve the rate of absoption, accelerate the projects'
implementation and minimize the expected losses at the end of
2014 in accordance with the de-commitment rule (N+2), Vassileva
said.