EC to Introduce Unprecedented Euro Funds Monitoring System in Bulgaria

Politics » BULGARIA IN EU | June 11, 2008, Wednesday // 00:00

Bulgaria is to become June the first EU member where specially prepared software for control of the absorption of EU funds will be introduced.

The monitoring is also to include the level of completion of projects financed by the EU, according to the EC spokesperson Eva Kalujinska cited by the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR).

The system is called "Lotar" and has been developed by the "Regional Policy" Directorate to help Bulgarian institutions monitor Euro funds.

The software would be introduced in Ministries and Agencies directly working with Euro funds and will be connected with a special monitoring system at the EC.

This way Brussels would be able to directly control projects' completion and payments from the lowest to the highest levels, showing that it has lost its confidence in the structures and in the responsible individuals in Bulgaria.

The EC had declined to comment on the reasons why Bulgaria would become the first EU country with such unprecedented monitoring system.

The funds from the three programs PHARE, ISPA and SAPARD remain blocked despite statements coming from Finance Minister Plamen Oresharski and Regional Minister Asen Gagauzov that they would become available by the end of May.

Brussels continue to expect the results form the audit of the Republican Road Agency and to analyse those of the May audit of the sate Fund "Agriculture" assigned to distribute the funds from the SAPARD program.

The news about the EC introducing the special monitoring software coincides with the preparation of the EC report about Bulgaria expected to become available by the end of July and with reported statements of EC representatives that in order to avoid political crisis in Bulgaria, the report was not going to be as harsh as it was expected.

In the mean time Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev in an interview in front of "Financial Times" warned that strong sanctions from Brussels towards his Cabinet for failure to find corruption and organized crime would risk encouraging political extremists.

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