Ex Minister: GERB Govt Not To Blame for EU Funds Issues

Bulgaria in EU | June 9, 2013, Sunday // 19:01|  views

Former Bulgarian EU Funds Minister Tomislav Donchev, photo by Sofia Photo Agency

Former Bulgarian EU Funds Minister Tomislav Donchev has rejected allegations of Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister Zinaida Zlatanova that the previous center-right GERB government failed to outline priorities for the 2014-2020 programming period.

In a Sunday interview for the Focus news agency, Donchev claimed that the best thing to do for the new government of Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski was to build upon the efforts and achievements of their predecessors.

"Bulgaria started preparations for the next programming period at least one year and a half ago. I am not talking about the efforts of the administration only – a working group was set up to draft the Partnership Agreement with the European Commission with representatives of academic circles, the social and economic partners and a number of non-governmental organizations," Donchev specified.

Bulgaria's former EU Funds Minister suggested that Zlatanova had most probably had no time to acquaint herself with the existing documents, adding that the matter involved hundreds of pages of documents.

Donchev underscored that the center-right government of the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party had done a lot of work, adding that it was inappropriate for Zlatanova to engage in petty politicking.

Earlier on Sunday, Zlatanova announced plans to begin urgent consultations with NGOs and trade unions on the priorities which the Bulgarian government would defend in contracting EU funds for the period 2014-2020.

She blamed the previous GERB government for the lack of clearly defined priorities and strategic documents in key spheres like healthcare, e-government and improving the business climate.

Zlatanova also complained about the poor pace of EU funds absorption over the past year, stressing that Bulgaria was very likely to lose the funding for projects worth EUR 272 M.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!


Tags: Tomislav Donchev, GERB government, Zinaida Zlatanova, programming period, EU Funds Minister, EU funds

Back  

» Related Articles:

Search

Search