Bulgaria has been removed from the watch list of the European Commission (EC) as regards financing and administration of EU agricultural subsidies, EC officials announced after an October 10 meeting.

Bulgaria was on the verge of losing 25 per cent of its direct agricultural subsidies for the 2007-2013 budget period because of delays in structuring the local agency to finance and administer EU funds. In reports issued up to late summer, the EC also pinpointed delays in the construction of veterinary border checkpoints and devising mechanisms to prevent animal diseases.

The positive report means that Bulgaria will receive the full 250 million euro in direct agricultural subsidies designated for payout in 2007.

On issue of the report October 10, however, Agriculture and Rural Region EU Commissioner Mariann Fischer-Boel recognised Bulgaria had made huge strides in aligning its structures and policies to European requirements.

“Bulgaria achieved good progress and created its integrated administration and control system,” Fischer-Boel said. “There are still some weaknesses, but they are not as substantive. Besides, Bulgaria assured us that it will do away with the failings before the first payout takes place.”

The positive decision comes after in late summer EU officials carried out a series of inspections aimed at checking progress on build-up of the financial flows administration and control system.

The visits also arranged the terms under which Bulgarian milk and meat processing companies would be operating in a transition period.

In a statement hours after the EC decision, Bulgaria’s Agriculture Minister Nihat Kabil said that Bulgaria was already on an equal footing with the remainder of EU member states.

In a statement quoted by mediapool.bg, he said: “Bulgaria entered into the regular procedure on audit and control of agricultural funds. In other words, this means Bulgaria will have to file regular reports with the EC throughout the year, carry out annual reviews on the proper payments’ payout.”

First payments are due on December 1 this year. Kabil told Bulgarian news agency BTA that the agricultural funds administration and control agency received 79 050 valid farmer subsidies’ applications.

He said that a primary task from now onwards would be to successfully launch the Rural Regions Development Programme for the 2007-2013 period, which foresees allocations in the amount of 3.242 billion euro.

Namely, a total of 1.974 billion euro are allocable directly to Bulgarian companies and land tilling farmers, while the remainder, or 2.609 billion euro, will be distributable for development of rural regions.

In addition, Bulgaria dispatched October 12 to the European Commission its Fishery and Aquacultures Operational Programme. The programme foresees 80 million euro in payments over the 2007-2013 period and passed Cabinet approval on October 10.

With the October 10 decision, the EC opted for its first ever differentiated approach for Bulgaria and Romania since the countries’ accession to the European Union on January 1 this year. Unlike Bulgaria, the EC warned Romania would be stripped of a quarter of its EU direct farmer subsidy funds unless it fine-tuned their fund administration and control system by November 9.

The news sent shockwaves across the country, as did produce corruption allegations against agriculture minister Decebal Traian Remes. The end result was Remes’ resignation and his immediate replacement with Dacian Ciolos, to date deputy secretary of state on agriculture.

In related news, the European Parliament has proposed that all EU member states publish online a list of all beneficiaries of direct agriculture subsidies. The move would be consonant with the EU’s aspiration for full transparency and payouts should be itemised on a per-project basis, authors of the proposal said. All the more, all agencies to have transgressed on payout will be penalised with write-off of two per cent of all payments.

The lists should feature in the websites of funds’ administration and control agencies of each country. The European Commission, for its part, should build a webpage for the individual lists of all EU member countries.

As many as 14 member states have already set this procedure on the go, MEPs noted.

In addition, MEPs intend to call on countries to publish data on payouts from fully state-financed funds or the so-called additional payments.