The European Commission has recommended that the Bulgarian government abstain from providing SAPARD funding for projects applying for money under two more measures of the program.

The news was announced Friday at a joint press conference of the Deputy Prime Minister Meglena Plugchieva, who is in charge of monitoring the absorption of EU funding, and the Minister of Agriculture Valeri Tzvetanov.

The EC recommendation came in a letter from the Commission Directorate-General on Agriculture to the Bulgarian Agriculture Minister Valeri Tzvetanov, which was received late Thursday night.

The Commission recommends the termination of funding for projects under the measures "Development and Diversification of the Economic Activities" and "Investments in Agriculture".

The recommendation is based on the violations discovered in the Bulgarian SAPARD Executive Agency during the audit carried out by OLAF experts, which took place at the end of May and the beginning of June.

The Bulgarian Ministry of Agriculture is currently putting together a emergency group of experts on EU funding, who will come up with a plan of specific measures for rectifying the flaws in the funding absorption.

Plugchieva announced that the action plan would be submitted to Brussels on July 1, even though the Commission had requested it by July 31. It is will presented there by the Bulgarian experts, who are currently preparing it, and who will discuss the issues with the Commission's representatives.

During Friday's press conference the Agriculture Minister Valeri Tzvetanov was not able to announce the exact amount of the EU funds, which would be frozen as a result of the Commission's recommendation. Neither was it made clear how many projects would be affected by this measure.

Tzvetanov promised that the specific problems with the absorption of SAPARD funds, and the exact amount of the blocked money would be announced on Monday, June 30. He vowed to take emergency measures to rectify the issues.

In March 2008 the European Commission froze SAPARD funding for Bulgaria under the measure "Processing and Marketing of Agricultural and Sea Products". This move affected projects worth BGN 81 M.

Immediately after the end of the OLAF audit at the beginning of June, the Head of the Bulgarian State Fund "Agriculture" Dimitar Tadarukov stated that the audit had gone really well, and that the BGN 81 M would be unblocked soon.

With Thursday's letter, however, Bulgaria's SAPARD funds are now frozen for three of the program's measures.

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