European Regional Policy Commissioner Paweł Samecki is to visit Bulgaria on October 22 and 23 to see the impact of the EU’s cohesion policy in the South-West (Sofia) and North-Central (Gabrovo) regions, the EC said.

Samecki will meet Prime Minister Boiko Borissov and members of the Cabinet, and visit some of the major EU-backed infrastructure developments currently underway in the country, including the Sofia metro extension and Lyulin Motorway.

"Bulgaria has every opportunity to make the best use of the 9.5 billion euro of EU investments available until 2013," Samecki said.
 
"In my view the authorities have recently taken appropriate actions to tackle problems and I congratulate them for the willingness they have demonstrated to meet challenges head-on. The selection of good projects, stable and competent management, and good control systems are crucial to ensure the maximum impact of EU assistance for the Bulgarian people," he said.

Samecki will meet Borissov and Simeon Dyankov, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, as well as four other Cabinet ministers responsible for implementing the EU’s cohesion policy: Rosen Plevneliev (Regional Development and Public Works), Traicho Traikov (Economy, Energy and Tourism), Aleksandar Tsvetkov (Transport, Information Technology and Communication), and Nona Karadjova (Environment and Water).
 
Projects supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and by the Cohesion Fund in 2007-13 are progressing, according to the EC statement, with more than  a billion euro (23 per cent of available funding) already allocated.

However, projects funded under the former Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (ISPA) are behind schedule.
 
Only 30 per cent of payments have been processed to date and Bulgaria risks losing a significant part of its 880 million euro ISPA allocation if it fails to use the funding by December 31 2010.
 
"The Bulgarian authorities have, however, recently taken steps to improve and accelerate the use of EU funds," the EC said.
 
The EC cited as examples reforms in the country's water sector, giving municipal authorities a bigger role in planning and implementation, should help to speed up implementation of water management projects.

With Borissov, Samecki will see the latest construction work on the new section of Line 2 of the Sofia metro, connecting Nadezhda road to Cherni Vrah Boulevard via the Central Station. The project has received 157 million euro in EU funding out of a total cost of 320 million euro.

Samecki will visit Lyulin Motorway, scheduled for completion at the end of 2010.
 
As part of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), this motorway will improve connections between Bulgaria and the rest of Europe, notably Greece. The EU contribution: is 111 million euro.

He will complete his programme in Sofia with a speech at Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, focusing on the way in which the cohesion policy can help transform the economy and contribute to good governance in Bulgaria.

On October 23, Samecki wil be in Gabrovo, where his stops will include the  Ivan Gyuzelev high-school, one of 170 secondary and primary schools which have received EU assistance to upgrade their infrastructure and improve energy efficiency. He will also visit businesses which have received EU support and see the Etar architectural-ethnographic complex.