Brussels Freezes Bulgaria PHARE Payments

Politics » BULGARIA IN EU | February 29, 2008, Friday // 00:00
Bulgaria: Brussels Freezes Bulgaria PHARE Payments The European Commission has notified Bulgarian authorities that it is freezing payments under PHARE pre-accession fund, the finance ministry announced. Photo by Yuliana Nikolova (Sofia Photo Agency)

The European Commission has notified Bulgarian authorities that it is freezing payments under PHARE pre-accession fund, the finance ministry announced.

The temporary suspension will apply to EUR 80 M worth of projects that are being managed by the Central Finance and Contracts Unit with the Finance Ministry and PHARE executive agency with the Regional Development Ministry.

The Directorate General for Enlargement of the EU has sent a letter to the Bulgarian authorities, criticising the poor management and lax control in the management and absorption of funds under projects, handled by the two agencies.

The projects concerned have been greenlighted before the executive agencies accreditation was completed, while every stage of tender preparations and contracting were monitored by the European Commission Delegation, the finance ministry pointed out.

The news comes just a month after the European Commission asked Bulgaria's finance ministry to freeze EU subsidy payments for infrastructure following a corruption scandal.

The new restrictions will not affect the negotiations on the pre-accession fund financial memoranda for 2006, the ministry pointed out.

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