Switzerland Follows EU's Suit in Withdrawing Funds for Bulgaria - Report

Politics » BULGARIA IN EU | December 18, 2008, Thursday // 00:00

Switzerland's government has delayed the allocation of CHF 257 M of aid to Bulgaria and Romania, the Swiss newspaper Basler Zeitung reported Thursday.

In an article entitled "Bern Not in a Hurry with Money for Bulgaria and Romania", the paper explains that the Bulgaria's corruption issues had made the Swiss government rethink or at least delay the approval of its allocation of foreign aid to the two states.

The paper cites a Swiss MP as saying that Switzerland should follow EU's suit on the two states, i.e whenever the Commission freezes or withdraws funds, the Swiss should do the same.

The article reminds that in November the EC decided to deprive Bulgaria of EUR 520 M of PHARE funds over corruption suspicions and weak administrative capacity.

Basler Zeitung also points out that the Bulgarian-Swiss cooperation was currently in a transition phase as the projects from Bulgaria's pre-accession period had already been completed, while no decisions had been made about Switzerland's additional contribution.

While in June 2008 the Swiss government voted the allocation of CHF 76 M to Bulgaria, and CHF 181 M to Romania, the bill still had not been tabled to the Parliament for approval.

The paper predicts that the first new projects in Bulgaria and Romania with Swiss aid would be launched as early as 2010 because in 2009 the Swiss government was going to make a decision on its aid for the two states, and to craft rules and sanctions regarding potential abuses.

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