Monika Panayotova, Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on European Affairs and Oversight of the European Funds: The lack of administrative capacity is still a crucial issue for the absorption of EU funds

- Miss Panayotova, Bulgaria was the first in the EU to sign a memorandum with international financial institutions for receiving technical assistance on their part, but last year we signed an agreement on the restructuring of a World Bank loan of €80 mln for the same purpose. How are these two steps connected?
- We have recently signed a memorandum of understanding, aimed at strengthening the administrative expertise, especially in the preparation of large infrastructure projects since now there is some deficiency in this area. It is very important for us, in the next programming period, to avoid the mistakes which we made in the current one and to have enough prepared projects. EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn made the same recommendations during the signing of the memorandum. Bulgaria’s policy in this field is based on three key pillars. The stable macroeconomic framework is the first one - few EU countries manage to cope with the criteria for deficits and public debt. The second pillar is the accelerated absorption of EU funds, where we report double-digit rates. This rates have been steady over the past 2 years. We need even better results and therefore we signed the memoranda with the financial institutions. The third pillar refers to the outlined priorities in the fields of infrastructure, energy efficiency, and investments in transport infrastructure, the water sector and environment projects.

-What are the weakest points in the absorption of EU funds, according to the last report of the European Committee?
- The lack of administrative capacity is still a crucial issue. At the moment, there is some stability of the institutions in charge and they are able to retain their staff. This is an additional argument in the debate whether to change the system, whether to have an agency or upgrade the existing system. My personal opinion is that, given the short time available, we should not make an abrupt change, but to build on the existing system which is more decentralised. We are facing problems with the implementation of the Operational Programs, where the main beneficiaries are public institutions like municipalities. After the elections, all the old and new mayors announced that the absorption of European funds was their priority task. We warned that in 2012 the greatest part of the resources should be agreed in order to enable the actual absorption of funds in the second half of 2012 and in 2013. We must have a vision, strategy and plan for the new programming period in order to avoid the mistakes already made in this one.

Then, it will become clear how many Operational Programmes will be needed and how the process should be managed. As far as legislative regulations are concerned, there are many ordinances and administrative acts of the Government. It will be better a single framework for the next programming period to be considered – for instance, a law on EU funds – in order to unite the entire subject matter.

- What do we have to achieve in 2012?
- This year is crucial because of three issues. One of them concerns the debate on the multiannual financial framework for the 2014-2020 period since we need to uphold our positions with regard to the new cohesion policy. This means sufficient EU funds for Bulgaria during the next programming period. Under the original draft, we have a chance to receive some 15%-20% more money. We still have the status of a developing region which enables our country to get more funding. The second important point is to become part of the internal integration space, by which I mean Bulgaria’s accession to the Schengen area. Our country meets the criteria for the gradual opening of its borders. Therefore, I hope the Netherlands will act in a politically responsible way. It is very important to accelerate our pace so as to absorb the maximum possible amount of funds until 2014. The year 2012 is also important for the mechanism of cooperation and assessment. The European Comission will make an overall assessment of this mechanism this year - whether it has been efficient and to what extent it has assisted Bulgaria and Romania in combating organised crime and corruption. Romania has already come out with a position on the judiciary. The country’s Justice Minister declared that the monitoring should be revoked, i.e. Romanians believe they can implement their own reforms without the need of monitoring on the part of the EC. This is a pragmatic and correct decision, because it is important for the formation of the country’s image; it is also important to foreign investors and partners. Bulgarian Minister of Justice has not come out with such a stance yet. I sincerely hope that work will be done to this end. We have to decide whether we need this mechanism in order to implement the reforms or we believe that we can continue without it.

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