site.btaEuropean Commission Restarts Payments Under Operational Programme Environment

108 ECONOMY - EC - OP ENVIRONMENT- PAYMENTS - RESTARTED Ampl.

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.

LI/DS