Finland's Ambassador to Sofia Kauko Jamsen announced Friday some of the PHARE Program payments under Measure 1 for small and medium-sized firms had been delayed for two years.

Together with Bulgaria's Deputy PM Meglena Plugchieva, who in charge of monitoring the absorption of EU funding, His Excellency took part in a meeting with the members of the Bulgarian Business Leaders' Forum.

Jamsen also said that in addition to the delay, some of the funds destined for small firms have been directed illegally to larger companies. In his words, the European Commission and the Bulgarian Ministry of Economy had been informed about these violations of the respective Bulgarian institutions.

The Deputy PM Plugchieva in turn asked Jamsen to provide specific examples about funds that had been redirected, and said she could not comment on issues of the competence of the Economy Minister.

Plugchieva also reminded that the completion of the ten projects, whose PHARE funding had been frozen, would be financed through the state budget.

She expressed her hope that the frozen SAPARD funds would be unblocked in the fall. When asked whether the resignation of the SAPARD Agency Director Dimitar Tadarakov solved the problems in the instution, Plugchieva said that assuming responsibility was not enough, and that an action plan was needed to rectify the situation.

The Deputy PM also admitted there had been a one-year delay in the seven operative programs for 2007-2013 because accreditation of the Ministries for work on the programs was completed in December 2007.

She pointed out that the Competition Police and Transport were the most important programs for the businesses, and that one of the main issues in absorbing EU funds was the lack of information for the companies.

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