Bulgaria’s EU Funds Absorption Up to 13% - Minister

According to EU Funds Minister Tomislav Donchev , the current government has managed to clear Bulgaria`s bad image through increased EU funds absorption. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria has boosted EU funds absorption to 13% from the 0.98% during the previous government, EU Funds Minister Tomislav Donchev announced.

In a Friday interview for the morning broadcast of Bulgarian National Television (BNT), Donchev specified that the audit report of KPMG confirmed the data he had been given.

The KPMG report, which was released on June 15, ranked Bulgaria among the worst-performing EU countries in terms of EU funds absorption in the period 2007-2010.

The KPMG study showed Bulgaria as a particularly poor performer in EU funds absorption for science and innovation, health and energy projects, for which the country had not contracted a single Euro up to March 2011.

"We managed to clear Bulgaria of the bad image acquired in 2008", Donchev insisted during the Friday interview, vowing that "We shall not make a second mistake".

He confirmed that inspections of the public administration over financing granted by the EU were ongoing and would continue in the future.

Regarding the recent administrative reshuffles, Donchev termed the measures as "changes in the political backdrop, which is something different than the administration".

The Cohesion Policy financial framework would be announced by end-June, the EU Funds Minister informed.

He further explained that there was correlation between the country's absorption rate for a past programming period and the sums it would receive over the next period.

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