site.btaEuropean Commission Restarts Payments Under Operational Programme Environment

108 ECONOMY - EC - OP ENVIRONMENT- PAYMENTS - RESTARTED

European Commission Restarts
Payments Under Operational
Programme Environment


Brussels, 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.