site.btaBulgaria Expects Resumption of Suspended Payments under European Programmes in October

Bulgaria Expects Resumption of Suspended Payments under European Programmes in
October


Brussels, September 11 (BTA corr. Nikolay Jeliazkov) - Bulgarian
 Deputy Prime Minister in charge of EU funds management Iliana
Tsanova and Environment and Water Minister Svetlana Zhekova
conferred late on Wednesday with European Commissioner for
Regional Policy Johannes Hahn.

Speaking to Bulgarian reporters after the meeting, Tsanova said
that she familiarized Commissioner Hahn with the work completed
by the caretaker government in respect of the suspended payments
 by the European Commission under two operational programmes in
Bulgaria, one for environment and one for regional development.
Tsanova said that an action plan has been drawn for resumption
of suspended payments, which she expects to take place by the
end of October.

Tsanova said that an EC mission is expected in Bulgaria in
mid-October to assess on the spot the progress attained in the
control of spending of EU funds in Bulgaria.

She said that Bulgaria accepted the enforcement of a flat
financial correction of 9.5 per cent in respect of 239
contracted projects worth a total of 1,609 million leva, or a
correction of nearly 153 million leva. "This money will be
possible to re-channel, Bulgaria is not losing it," Tsanova
said.

Zhekova for her part said that the main focus of the work of her
 Ministry is the preparation of a certificate with an
application for payment of EU funding. She said that provided
that the relevant national control authorities work full tilt,
the document will be submitted to the EC in October. "We believe
 that sufficient efforts were expended and proper measures
undertaken so that we can prove that the control mechanisms are
working," Zhekova said. SN /ZH/
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