Bulgarian authorities were preparing to decentralise the process of extending European Union (EU) rural development grants, Dimitar Tadarukov, executive director of State Fund Agriculture (SFA), said on October 23, as quoted by mediapool.bg

Project applications for funding of between 150 000 and 200 000 euro under rural development programmes would be filed on a local basis and approved at the country’s 28 regional centres. SFA experts had already been sent to all the regions to help speed up the procedures and complete the first successful grant extensions. More specialists were to be appointed and sent on location to offer advice to people and organisations on how to draft projects, Tadarukov said.

The administration should reach out to the beneficiaries and not sit and wait for them to come to Sofia, said Tadarukov. He said he had set himself the goal to completely absorb the funds expected to come from the EU for agriculture and rural development.

Brussels was expected to give final approval in November on the Rural development Programme for Bulgaria, under which Bulgaria was expected to received funding of more than 3.2 billion euro by the year 2013. Meanwhile, by December 20, SFA should finally acquire its accreditation as Payment Agency, according to the EU directives.