14.03.2014

The Government has been taking measures to improve the business climate and to reduce the administrative burden, and the steps in this direction are clear and we already see the effects. This is what Minister of Finance Petar Chobanov said at a meeting with Mr. Aurelio Cecilio, Head of Romania, Bulgaria, Malta Unit, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion of the European Commission. "We have also managed to improve the situation in the revenue agencies by offering new electronic services and reducing the administrative burden at the same time", specified Minister Chobanov. He added that the Ministry had a very good administrative capacity as a Managing Authority of Operational Programme Administrative Capacity (OPAC) and this could be seen from the results achieved in the current programming period and from the objectives realized in 2013 concerning the absorption of EU funds. He added that this capacity should be preserved in the next programming period and that there should be continuity.

The funds contracted under OPAC as of 10 March 2013 total BGN 343.7 million, or 97.2% of the Programme's financial plan. The funds paid to beneficiaries amount to BGN 205.7 million, or 58.2% of the funds contracted, while the funds certified from the start of the programming period amount to BGN 172.4 million. 2013 has been a year of breaking records for OPAC concerning the four basic Programme indicators, i.e. contracted funds reached BGN 64.6 million, or 18% of the Programme's financial plan, which is 13% higher than 2012. The disbursed funds amounted to BGN 55.7 million, which is 60% more than the previous year, and the verified and certified expenditure amounted to BGN 64.7 million and BGN 71.3 million respectively.

Aurelio Cecilio said that the purpose of EU financing for the state administration was to create a more favourable environment for the businesses and the citizens and to contribute to economic growth and new jobs. That is why, for a second successive year the European Commission has identified the administration as one of the key factors to be addressed in order to achieve the objectives of the Europe 2020 Strategy. He added that what was essential in this process was to have good projects submitted by the local authorities for financing. Minister Chobanov said that there was close cooperation with municipalities and at the start of the term of office the work of the Governance Decentralisation Council, which included both government and municipal representatives, had been resumed. The Minister of Finance specified that the Council also discussed the delivery of better services and the establishment of standards and good practices so as to improve the relations between businesses and citizens and the administration.

The meeting between Mr. Chobanov and Mr. Cecilio was also attended by Mrs. Monika Dimitrova-Beecher, Head of the Managing Authority of OPAC, and by OPAC experts. Among the topics discussed at the meeting was the progress made in OPAC and the process of programming of Operational Programme Good Governance 2014 - 2020.