On November 10, the Committee on European Affairs and Oversight of the European Funds at the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria held a hearing on the progress in the country under the Schengen Facility. The meeting of the Committee has been chaired by Ms. Monika Panayotova and the Schengen progress has been presented by Mr. Tsvetan Tsvetanov – Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria, Minister of Interior and Chairman of the Schengen Facility Monitoring Committee.

The main points can be concluded as follows:

100 % contracting rate under the Schengen Facility has been achieved;
At present the payments amount at 70 % of the contracted funds and full absorption of the resources is expected by December 31, 2010;
An evaluation of the Bulgarian readiness to join the Schengen Area will take place in the beginning of December, focused on the capability of the country to apply the Schengen Information System;
A visit to the Republic of Bulgaria of Dr. Hans-Peter Uhl – Chairman of the Committee on Internal Affairs, Security and Civil Rights in the Bundestag and also Reporter on Schengen in the Bundestag, has been planned for the beginning of 2011;
Based on an Agreement between the Ministry of Interior and the Open Society Institute, a civil monitoring on the fulfillment of the Schengen criteria is being carried out and up to this moment the results are satisfactory;
The Chairwoman of the Committee on European Affairs and Oversight of the European Funds Ms. Monika Panayotova has invited Mr. Gunther Krichbaum – Chairman of the Committee on the Affairs of the European Union in the Bundestag to visit the Republic of Bulgaria in the beginning of 2011, with an accent on the forthcoming accession of the country to the Schengen Area

During the meeting of the Committee and in the presence of Ms. Boryana Pencheva – Deputy Minister of Finance, Ms. Petya Evtimova - Deputy Minister of Education, Youth and Science, as well as of experts from the Unit of the Minister in charge of EU funds management - Mr. Tomislav Donchev, the current status of the following has also been discussed:

“Technical Assistance” Operational Program 2007 – 2013;
Norwegian Cooperation Program;
Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area.

The presentation and discussion of the information on the progress of the funding sources and instruments above is a part of the series of hearings before the Committee on European Affairs and Oversight of the European Funds aimed at exerting political control over the activity of the state administration structures engaged in the management of the European funds in the country. The materials and the debates of the meetings will be used in the elaboration of the Interim and Annual Reports of the Committee on the absorption of the EU funds in the Republic of Bulgaria.

The Report from the hearing can be found at (available only in Bulgarian):

http://www.parliament.bg/?page=ns&lng=bg&nsid=5&action=show&Type=cmStan&SType=show&gid=240&id=2339