Bulgaria's Partnership Agreement with the European Commission for the 2014-2020 period is unlikely to be signed by April, according to former EU Funds Minister Tomislav Donchev.

In a Wednesday interview for Bulgaria on Air TV, Donchev, MP from center-right party GERB (Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria), claimed that there were three main problems which Bulgaria could face in connection with the Agreement.

He argued that the first problem involved reforms which Bulgaria was required to conduct in order to access EU funding in certain spheres, stressing that healthcare could prove to be the most problematic sector.

Donchev, as cited by money.bg, suggested that the second serious obstacle Bulgaria would face would be the decision on the number of cities to be financed under the Growth Regions Operational Program.

Bulgaria's former EU Funds Minister pointed out that the third challenge was related to the preparation of a list of priority sectors to which the funding earmarked for small and medium-sized companies would be directed, adding that the list was expected to include the sectors with the largest contribution to economic growth.

Donchev expressed hopes that the new programming period would not start without a delay, as had been the case with the previous one.

He went on to argue that Euroscepticism was a reflection of the normal political geometries in the countries and that it would not become an insurmountable economic factor.

"If the EU did not exist, all of the current EU Member States would have been poorer," he underscored.

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