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Bulgaria Lags in Absorbing EU Funds, Risking Losses and Growing Debt
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Bulgaria is falling behind in its utilization of European Union funds, with political instability contributing to this issue. This was highlighted during the presentation of the European Court of Auditors' Annual Report for 2023.
Iliana Ivanova, former European Commissioner and current member of the European Court of Auditors, pointed out that while no quantitative errors were found in Bulgaria's management of European funds in the fields of "Agriculture and Natural Resources," there were issues in the "Cohesion Policy" sector. She noted significant delays in the absorption of funds under the EU's Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP). Ivanova explained that the EU's legal framework lacks clear definitions for how the stages and objectives of the plan should be determined, leaving room for varying interpretations by member states and the European Commission. This discrepancy poses risks, including potential loss of funding, increased debt, and inflation.
The European Court of Auditors' report also revealed that the overall material error in EU budget spending rose to 5.6% in 2023, up from 3% in 2021 and 2.7% in 2020. The main cause of this increase was the payments made after the end of the Covid-19 pandemic. The highest error rate was observed in the area of "Cohesion Policy," where it reached 9.3%, due to the high volume of transactions. Conversely, the "Agriculture and Natural Resources" sector reported the lowest error rate in EU budget management.
Source: econ.bg
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