BULGARIA HAS ABSORBED 22% OF THE FUNDS UNDER THE RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME FOR THE PROGRAMMING PERIOD 2007-2013

At the end of February 2012, the European Commission refunded Bulgaria a total of €586 mln from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) for the payments transferred within the Bulgarian Rural Development Programme 2007-2013 ( RDP), which equals 22% of the total volume of grants allocated under the Fund. Currently, a request for about €251 mln is still being processed which, if approved, will increase the level of payments to 32%. This was the response of the European Commissioner for Agricultural and Rural Development, Dacian Cioloş to the inquiry of MEP Iliyana Yotova.

According to the EU Commissioner, there is potential risk of a first financial loss of EU funding for Bulgaria's RDP for the end of 2011 under the so-called. n +2 rule for automatic repeal of an undertaken financial commitment. This will depend on the outcome of the consideration of the amendments to the Bulgarian RDP, which is currently being conducted by the Commission's staff. EU Commissioner Cioloş commented further in his response that, given the very low rate of the implementation of Bulgaria's RDP and the associated risk of rule n +2, the European Commission has been closely monitoring these issues, jointly with Bulgarian authorities since 2010.

Their objective is to explore the possible ways to accelerate the implementation of the RDP. According to the EC, however, if the rate of the programme's implementation is not raised, there is a risk for Bulgaria to face further repeals of the financial commitments of the allocation of funds by the EAFRD under the Bulgarian Rural Development Programme until the end of the 2007-2013 programming period, warned Cioloş.