EC Suspends Payments on Regional Development Programme for Bulgaria

The European Commission temporarily suspended payments to Bulgaria on the Operational Programme for Regional Development, report the Bulgarian-language media. 

The letter from the EC, notifying the Bulgarian authorities on this, has been sent on Tuesday afternoon, according to Shirin Wheeler, spokesperson of the European Commissioner for Regional Policy Johannes Hahn. 

According to the reports in the Bulgarian-language media, the suspended payments amount to BGN 640 M and cover programmes for urban development and tourism. The reason for this were problems with management and control, established by the EC audit. 

In Wheeler's words, the payments will be suspended until Bulgaria solves the problems. According to government sources, the problems were mainly in public procurements in the municipalities of Burgas and Asenovgrad, the University for Architecture, Construction and Geodesics and the purchases of fire engines by the Interior Ministry. The projects were in the period 2010-2013.

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