Bulgaria - with less European money for the next programming period?

“Bulgaria is facing a real danger of failing to absorb the EU money for the current programming period and of not being allowed to plan for the next programming period (2014 - 2020) at least the same amount of funds - €7 bn – that we have for the present one,” Meglena Plugchieva, Deputy Chairperson of the parliamentary European Funds Committee and former Minister of EU Funds in the cabinet of ex-PM Sergey Stanishev, told Klassa. She reminded that, according to EU logic, if a country fails to absorb the earmarked money, a considerably smaller amount is planned for the following programming period. We are now in the middle of the current period and the actual settlements stand at just over 11%. EU Funds Minister Tomislav Donchev announced this figure during a forum at the beginning of May. Plugchieva told Klassa that she had asked Donchev how Bulgaria will plan the next programming period. A report drafted by the EC of the European Parliament shows that for Q1 2011 our country received money only from the European Social Fund.

During this period, Bulgaria has not received funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). According to the experts who prepared the report, this causes concern because another 24% should be absorbed by the end of 2011 in order not to lose the money earmarked for 2008 from this fund. However, our country still has a chance to absorb the money for 2008 by the end of this year. The absorption of funds for 2009 is only 25.35%, and zero - for 2010 and 2011. The utilisation of money from this fund is relatively better than from the other two – the Social and the Cohesion Funds, read the report. Among the 27 EU member-states, Bulgaria ranks 24th in terms of the absorption of funds for regional development, 25th - in terms of money absorbed from the European Social Fund, and last in terms of the money absorbed from the Cohesion Fund.

The situation with respect to the Cohesion Fund is the worst. No payments to Bulgaria were effected last year from this fund and 70.17% of the money that should be reported at the end of 2011 remains unabsorbed. For the other three years - 2009, 2010 and 2011 – for which the term for absorption is running, Bulgaria has not absorbed any money at all.

Mr. Donchev’s office had not replied to Klassa’s questions by the time the newspaper went to print but, some time ago, the Minister said that by the middle of the year we will catch up with absorption from the Cohesion Fund because payments for the Trakia motorway will be effected.

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