On May 11, 2011, the Committee on European Affairs and Oversight of the European Funds discussed with representatives of the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Finance the current state in the absorption of the European funds under the:

• Schengen Facility;
• “Administrative Capacity” Operational Program 2007 – 2013;
• Transition Facility and
• Phare Program.
The Committee Meeting has been joined by Mr. Dimitar Georgiev – Deputy Minister of Interior, Mr. Ivan Sharenkov – Director of the “International Projects” Directorate at the Ministry of Interior, Ms. Monika Dimitrova – Director of the “Administrative Capacity Operational Program” Directorate at the Ministry of Finance and Ms. Karina Karaivanova – Director of the “National Fund” Directorate at the Ministry of Finance.
During the Committee Meeting a number of issues related to the implementation of the Programs and Facilities above have been discussed and the following accents can be highlighted:

• The execution and payment period under the Schengen Facility has expired on December 31, 2010 and 100% contracting and payment rates have been achieved. The monitoring and evaluation continue in 2011. Final Report on the Implementation of the Schengen Facility has to be elaborated and submitted to the European Commission. The deadline for its submission is June 30, 2011. The Bulgarian accession to the Schengen Area has also been discussed in the framework of the Committee Meeting. A number of implemented and forthcoming international initiatives where representatives of the Ministry of Interior inform the European partners on the country’s current state of preparedness for accession to the Schengen Area have been discussed;

• At April 30, 2011, almost 48,9% of the allocated funds under the “Administrative Capacity” Operational Program 2007 – 2013 have been contracted and the payments reach at about 24,8% of its budget. For the past 5 months at about 9,6 mln. leva have been contracted and around 3,9 mln. leva have been paid under the Program;

• The execution period for the projects under the Transition Facility has expired on December 15, 2010 and the payment period expires on December 15, 2011. At March 31, 2011, almost 85% of the contracted funds under this source of funding have been paid;

• The execution of the projects under the Phare Program has been completed on April 30, 2010 and the payment period under the extended projects has expired on April 30, 2011. The country has managed to contract around 77% of the allocated funds under the Program and at about 86% of them has been absorbed.


The presentation and discussion of the information on the progress under the Programs and Facilities 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/bg/parliamentarycommittees/members/240/reports/ID/2716