The Council of Ministers has decided to adopt an action plan to save the money under the European operational program "Regional Development". This was announced by Deputy Prime Minister Atanas Pekanov at a briefing by the Council of Ministers, quoted by Dariknews.bg.
"This is a resource of over 3 billion euros, on which there has been little progress in recent years, and we face the danger that this resource will be irretrievably lost due to a lack of vision and actions by previous cabinets. Key to today's decision were our steps with Minister Ivan Shishkov in recent weeks to terminate a flawed procedure for small and medium-sized enterprises in Stara Zagora. This is a procedure that has clear indications that it was rigged, the assessments and criteria by which the projects were evaluated during the "Zhelyazkov" cabinet were manipulated. We were told this in the first days of the new cabinet in May. The EC clearly stated to us - we will not give you a single euro under this flawed procedure. We also conducted an internal audit, which showed the same thing - the criteria were rigged. We also talked to the business. For part of the business, it is clear what was happening and that is why it was terminated. A procedure for 127 million euros, which were going to go to companies close to the "Zhelyazkov" cabinet. This flawed procedure has been terminated, and the money will be saved," said Pekanov, adding that there will be a new procedure with new criteria.
The Deputy Prime Minister explained that today's decision by the Council of Ministers on a rescue plan includes various measures to speed up the program.
"So far, the program has been at a very low level of implementation. 5 years have passed, and so far only about 50 percent of the funds have been agreed and less than 10 percent of the funds have been disbursed. By the end of this year, Bulgaria must declare to the European Commission implemented expenses in the amount of 800 million euros. In fact, if we had not adopted this plan today, we would have lost these 800 million euros," said Atanas Pekanov.
He also explained in essence what the adopted plan includes: "This plan includes measures that were adopted by the Council of Ministers 3 weeks ago under the Just Transition Fund - these are the resources for the coal regions. The second part of the measures that were adopted today are under the Regional Development Program for Bulgarian municipalities. They include various projects that are in different stages of implementation, ones that we know meet all European requirements. The measures include ensuring financing for the Children's Hospital in Burgas, including providing resources under the municipal program for projects that have taken place, have progressed and meet European requirements. They also include providing resources for urban mobility in the capital - we are talking about the metro and allocating funds for new urban transport (new trolleybuses, buses, trams). The measures also include funds for urban mobility in several other cities. Today's decision also includes the provision of an important resource - about 500 million euros for the coal regions".
In response to a question, Atanas Pekanov indicated that the battle for funds under the Recovery and Resilience Plan for medical helicopters has been won, “despite the delays and the fact that the hangars have not been built“. The helicopters have been financed, and the hangars will be built with money from the state budget, he explained.