Bulgaria will be able to use only about 20 per cent of all the money that will come from European Union funds in 2006 and 2007.

This was said by Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev during question time in Parliament on August 11.

“This should not surprise anyone because we do not live in an abstract or ideal country,” he said.

According to Stanishev, the disbursement of funds depends not only on the central administrative bodies but also on the local authorities and on the ability of businesses to draft projects.

This is why the Government had been working actively to overcome the existing weaknesses and defects, Stanishev said.

Three months after the European Commission’s monitoring report, Stanishev confirmed what had been said in the report - that Bulgaria lacked the administrative capacity to use the funds that will be provided for the country’s successful integration into the EU. Brussels went further in its May 2006 report by saying that  a further reason that EU money could be wasted was the corruption within the administration, and the risk that the money could be rerouted to the hands of criminal structures.

Stanishev recalled on August 11 that the funds agreed with the EU for the 2007-2009 period amount to 4.6 billion euro. Of this, 1.562 billion euro will go to agriculture, 2.3 billion euro for structural activities, 490 million euro for internal policies and administration and 240 million euro for budget compensation and assisting the implementation of the Schengen Agreement.

The level of use of the money from the EU pre-accession funds, like PHARE, SAPARD and ISPA is unsatisfactory, Finance Minister Plamen Oresharski said at a seminar on Structural Funds - Possibilities and Challenges, in Bourgas on August 11.

Adequate preparation should be undertaken based on these alarming data and efficient work on an increase of the level of disbursement of EU structural funds should be launched at the beginning of next year, Oresharski said.

In his view, a serious change is needed in the preparation for more efficient use of the money, as following the accession Bulgaria would have access to larger resources compared to the pre-accession funds.

The Bourgas forum was part of the Finance Ministry’s campaign for the establishment and development of a national capacity for efficient use of EU structural funds and familiarisation with European standards and requirements.

The most recent tendencies in European regional policy were explained at the seminar. Attending the forum were representatives of regional and municipal administrations, social and economic partners and non-governmental organisations.