Bulgaria should absorb €183 mln for agricultural projects by the end of 2011

“By the end of 2011, Bulgaria should absorb €183 mln under Operational Programme for Rural Development,” Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Svetlana Boyanova announced yesterday during a conference attended by representatives of professional organisations from the agricultural sector. It has been calculated purely mathematically that there is a risk of having to return part of this resource to Brussels. Under the N+2 rule, the budget for every year can be used over the next two. OP for Rural Development was launched a year later and our country was granted a deferral for the 2007 and 2008 budgets which were transferred to the 2009 resource. However, the money should actually be paid by December 31, 2011 at the latest.

“We are making every effort to reduce this risk,” Boyanova explained. In order to avoid the worst-case scenario, measures have been taken to accelerate the programme. So far, 35% of the funds have been agreed and 21% have actually been paid.

Three changes have been made in order to better absorb the money this year alone. For example, the levels of compensation payments for biological agriculture and for farmers in disadvantaged regions were raised, the new measure 213 Nature was launched, and the State’s aid was combined with an application under Measure 121 - Modernisation of Farms.

The European Commission’s decision to increase advance payments from 20% to 50% is very fresh news and will also speed up the process. As soon as this decision is published, its implementation in our country will begin.

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