Tsvetkov dismissed because of the ineffective absorption of EU grants under OP Transport

m.dimitrova@klassa.bg

Minutes after the yesterday's regular session of the GERB (Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria) government during the operational meeting of the Cabinet, the Minister of Transport, Communications and Information Technology, Alexandar Tsvetkov submitted his resignation. A little later in the day, the press service of the Council of Ministers reported that the Prime Minister Boyko Borissov will propose to the MPs to elect Ivaylo Moskovski to the already vacant post. He was hitherto Deputy Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications.

"The replacement of the minister of Transport Alexandar Tsvetkov was necessitated by the fact that I want to optimise further our collaboration with Brussels and especially the absorption of EU funds," stated the PM Borissov in Plovdiv, quoted by BTA (Bulgarian Telegraph Agency).

According to the official information, Tsvetkov had pointed out personal reasons for his resignation. The Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Group of GERB, Valentin Nikolov praised him as a very successful minister because, although he assumed office under an unreformed system, he later carried out major reforms of the National Railway Infrastructure Company, of BDZ (Bulgarian State Railways), of Sofia Airport. Nikolov even expressed gratitude for his contribution.

The truth is that the dismissal of Alexandar Tsvetkov has been expected for several months now and it resulted from his failure to cope with the assigned tasks. The low performance of the Operational Programme (OP) Transport was mainly criticised in the letter sent by EC (European Commission) President, Jose Manuel Barroso in December last year. There are also serious doubts regarding the effectiveness of the construction project of the terminal for combined transport (Ro-La) at the railway station in the town of Dragoman. In fact, the sum of BGN 6 mln was invested in the site. Besides, the concessioning of port terminals and airports is also delayed. Currently, they are not effectively used and register a financial loss.

All day yesterday, rumours spread about more resignations mainly from the ranks of the deputy ministers. According to the released information, one of the Deputies at the Ministry of Agriculture and Food will also be dismissed. Asked whether he will demand the resignation of the Agriculture Minister himself, the PM Minister Borissov denied and reckoned that this will be a personal decision of the Minister, reported Focus Agency.
Ultimately, it became clear that Marii Kossev, the Deputy Economy Minister of Traicho Traikov was also discharged from office. Kossev himself denied having submitted his resignation.

The reforms of the GERB Cabinet will definitely not end with yesterday's replacements, commented insiders for Klassa. The dismissal of the Minister of Environment and Water, Nona Karadjova, has also been intensely discussed. To some extent, this will result from the fatal delay of the effective implementation of the OP Environment.

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