Some 185 EU projects under OPAC threatened because of reduced payments

Ministerial Decree 330 dated December 5, 2011, seriously threatens the work of municipalities and the administration of 185 projects under Operational Programme Administrative Capacity (OPAC). The ordinance drastically reduced the money of officials doing extra work in the project management bodies and deprives them of motivation to do their job well, showed a survey of Klassa.

"I realise that there is a category of cases, especially in the municipal administrations, where large infrastructure projects are managed and the responsibilities are much heavier there. I have made a commitment to the National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria to change the situation. I cannot say yet how this will happen and on the basis of what methods," Minister of EU Funds Management Tomislav Donchev admitted to Klassa. He and Finance Minister Simeon Djankov are the authors of Decree 330, which practically binds the remuneration paid for the work on projects with an hourly rate based on the salary of the respective officials in the administration, rather than with their work for the projects' implementation.

The problem is ripe in the central administration as well where there are units which have not received their remuneration for the extra work on projects for a fourth month now due to confusion in the interpretation of the Decree. At some places, it is applied retroactively to projects that were signed under conditions that were in force before the adoption of the Decree.

Boris Velchev warns Tomislav Donchev about the problem

A few days ago, Chief Prosecutor Boris Velchev sent a letter to Minister Donchev, warning him of the tension in the judicial system which implements projects under OPAC. Donchev confirmed for Klassa that he had received a letter from Velchev about the remuneration at the administration of the judiciary for work on the implementation of EU projects. "The letter concerns only the administration of the judiciary", said Donchev and added that the same issue had been raised by the municipalities.

The answer of the managing body

"The probability of the projects' quality to decrease should not be ruled out," Monika Dimitrova, Head of OPAC's Managing Body, said in an official reply to Klassa. "The reason is the lack of financial motivation of the officials entrusted with additional work on projects under operational programmes," she added. "However, it should be borne in mind that the implementation of projects is not an end in itself. The results they achieve will have a huge impact on the development of the respective institution or sector and will ultimately influence the development of the country as a whole," read the reply to Klassa.

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