THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION (EC) WILL SOON UNLOCK PAYMENTS TO BULGARIA UNDER THE SEVEN OPERATIONAL PROGRAMMES
The European Commission (EC) will soon unlock payments to Bulgaria under the seven operational programmes that account for 80%, or EUR 6.67 billion of the total cash pot the country is entitled to by 2013. At a session of the Bulgarian parliamentary committee on European affairs held on Sunday, it emerged Bulgaria expects to receive Brussels' official nod on the programmes' conformity assessments on which unblocking hinges.
They have already been rejected twice. "Bulgaria is currently the only EU country without a single approved assessment," said committee chair Svetlin Tanchev. He revealed the EU aid absorption rate in Bulgaria is precipitously low at only 1.3% of the total financing.
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