Die Presse: Bulgarian Minister Donchev 'Energetic, Natural Man'

The Austrian "Die Presse" has published a positive article on the Bulgarian Minister of EU Funds, Tomislav Donchev. Photo by BGNES

The Bulgarian Minister for EU Funds, Tomislav Donchev, is “an energetic and natural man, who is not into caprices that are so characteristic about the men in power”, according to a rather positive article by the Austrian Daily “Die Presse”.

“I hope that my position will soon be redundant,” Donchev said in the interview for the article, which also describes him as trustworthy, critical of himself, but also confident.

For the Austrian Daily, Donchev's position is unusual. The newspaper describes it as a title that does not make a person proud, but rather obliges him to do his job.

The article goes on to explain the need of a minister for EU funds because they have been stopped during the ruling of the previous government.

“Die Press” says that the former Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev has tried “to help himself” by appointing the former Bulgarian Ambassador to Germany, Meglena Plugchieva, as a Deputy PM, in charge of EU funds absorption (2008-2009).

However, the article says, the bad performance of the previous cabinet reflected on the government elections. Bulgaria's current government appointed Donchev as EU funds Minister in March 2010, in order to improve the largely stalled and problematic absorption of EU money.

“For Donchev, the irregularities that happened during ruling of the previous cabinet are still a problem: “There were huge delays in some projects. They now need to be finished extremely quickly,” the newspaper says.

“Die Press” also pays attention to Donchev's history as a mayor.

“As a former mayor of the Bulgarian town of Gabrovo, he is aware of the situation there and knows that many municipalities, especially the financially small ones and the ones with personal deficits, lack know-how and resources, in order to apply for EU projects,” the article says.

In the interview, Donchev does not hide the nostalgia he feels about this time of his life.

“That was a job that never ended. But it was more real and more reliable,” he says for the Austrian Daily.

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