Sun, Nov 22 2009

Bulgaria set to lose 130M leva in Sapard funding

Thu, Jun 25 2009 18:05 CET byAlex Bivol 1285 Views 2 Comments
Bulgaria set to lose 130M leva in Sapard funding

Photo: Anelia Nikolova

Bulgaria was likely to lose 130 million leva in funds allocated under the European Union's pre-accession aid programme Sapard for 2008, Dnevnik daily reported on June 25 2009.

Sofia was warned about such an outcome by Wolfgang Burtscher, the head of the audit department at the directorate-general for agriculture of the European Commission, who sent a letter to the Bulgarian Finance Ministry on June 16, the daily said.

Burtscher reportedly said that his department would not audit spending on projects paid for in 2008 because the State Fund Agriculture, which oversees Sapard funds distribution, did not apply the proper control procedures specified in the Public Procurement Act.

Without the audited reports, the EC would not reimburse Bulgaria for the money spent, Dnevnik said.

The Commission has repeatedly criticised Bulgarian authorities for the weak administrative capacity of its institutions responsible for handling EU funding and State Fund Agriculture has been no different. In March 2008, the EC froze 140 million euro worth of funding over suspicions of fraud and conflict of interest in the awarding of contracts.

Comments

Anonymous expat Fri, Jun 26 2009 11:26 CET
Inappropriate comment?

Raptor you are right!

It is very correct from EU to be so strict, because it is our tax money and if we agree to help BG to develop this has to follow clear and transparent rules !

Why is it sooo difficult for BG to cope with this. Every other country can, even RO is doing better !

Anonymous Raptor Thu, Jun 25 2009 20:50 CET
Inappropriate comment?

I told you in a previous post that EU FUNDS will continue to be mismanaged!!

What is new............!!

Write comment

Name:Comment:

Generate new code
Send your comment
EC to unblock Bulgaria’s Sapard funds

The EC will unblock millions of euro in Sapard funds, Agriculture Minister Miroslav Naidenov says on September 7 2009 after meeting the European Agriculture Commissioner.

Kalina Ilieva is new head of the Agriculture Fund

Former head of the fund's communications working-group with European Union and Olaf appointed head of the Agriculture Fund.

EC seeks 65M leva in Sapard funding back from Bulgaria

The European Commission (EC) has added 98 new projects financed under its Sapard programme to the debtors list, demanding that the country returns 65 million leva.

Bulgaria's new Agriculture Minister not yet planning dismissals

Miroslav Naidenov says that agriculture will be one of the top priorities of Boiko Borissov's new Bulgarian Government.

More in this category

Bulgarian MPs resurrect proposal to raise spirits excise

Strong public opposition to price hikes prompted Prime Minister Boiko Borissov to axe the Finance Ministry proposal to increase the excise duty on spirits, but MPs have put it back on the agenda.

Back to the future

Bulgaria’s Cabinet seeks to reverse recent changes in the telecommunications sector

At a crossroads, again

Kremikovtzi’s prospects for a recovery plan appear increasingly distant

Cash or card?

Bulgarians are getting the hang of debit and credit cards, MasterCard says

Bulgarian telecom Spectrum Net acquires local peer Orbitel

The two telecoms, both set up to challenge former fixed-line state monopoly BTC, will merge operations and expect to report 20 million euro in revenue and a gross profit of five million euro in 2010.

© 2000-2009, Sofia Echo Media Ltd.

Web Design by RIZN

Sofia Echo Media is part of the Economedia Group.
The news and information content on this website is provided by our editorial team and is copyrighted. Any unauthorised reproduction or use of it is strictly forbidden. Reproduction of this website's content is permitted only with prior written permission from the Editor-in-Chief, should be propertly acredited and provide an active link back to our site. Comments posted by the website's visitors are independent of the editorial materials and do not represent the views of sofiaecho.com. Sofia Echo Media cannot be held responsible for the statements contained in visitor comments. The percentаge change in the shares' prices are based on the price of the last transaction of the current session compared to the price of the last transaction of the previous session. Bulgarian Stock Exchange data is not real-time, but updated every 15 minutes, and should not be used as a basis for decisions about buying or selling stock options.