The CEAOEF presented its Annual Report on the Absorption of European Funds 2011 in Bulgaria. The Committee’s meeting was attended by National Assembly’s President Ms Tsacheva, Mr Tomislav Donchev, Minister for Management of EU Funds, the ambassadors of Poland and Denmark (currently holding the EU presidency), Mr Kamen Kolev, Chairman of the Consultative Council to CEAOEF and the heads of all the Managing Authorities of the Operational Programmes and Programme for Rural Development.
At the opening, National Assembly ‘s President Ms Tsacheva said that the good practice aiming at a consistent transparent control of the parliament on the processes of management of European funds in Bulgaria has continued to be the objective of this fifth regular report CEAOEF. Ms Tsacheva highlighted the active participation in the discussions on important EU policies in 2011 – e.g. Cohesion Policy and Common Agricultural Policy through the enhanced powers of parliament after the Lisbon Treaty. In addition, she expressed hope that the national parliament’s position on these issues will serve as a point of departure and will support the executive branch in defending the national interest in the negotiation process with them. In conclusion, Ms Tsacheva noted with satisfaction the attention given by the CEAOEF in its report on the Bulgaria's preparations for participation in the next programming period 2014-2020 and she expressed hope that the intensified dialogue between all stakeholders will continue so as to formulate a joint vision on how to develop Bulgaria in the period 2014 – 2020.
On behalf of the CEAOEF, the Chairwoman Ms Monika Panayotova presented the key findings of the Annual Report, which includes 21 financed by EU Funds programmes. She reviewed the financial progress made in 2011 and noted with satisfaction that there is no risk of losing funds under the rule N +2/ N +3, since all operating programs have achieved their targeted goals. There has been a double growth in 2011 in the negotiation and absorption of the seven operational programmes. By December 31, 2011 contracted funds reached 5.3 billion Euros (over 65% of the total budget) and payments mounted to 1.5 billion Euros (nearly 19%). There has been a good forecasts performance of the LOTHAR Instrument, as well as of the indicative 2011 Annual Work Programs. Ms Panayotova noted in her findings extremely low error rate (below the permissible 2% materiality threshold), as a result of improved performance management systems and control, including Quality control over procurement procedures.
Ms Panayotova made a brief overview of the achievements of individual Operational Programmes (OP) and the Programme for Rural Development. The CEAOEF recognises the operational program “Transport” as undisputed champion in the process of implementation for 2011. The programme registered 3 times more growth of contracting and 4 times increase in payments. The success is due largely to improved performance, and a start of major infrastructure projects in road sector – e.g. highway "Maritza" and highway "Struma". Regarding the highway "Trakia", the report notes that the speedy pace of work is kept. The work regarding “Sofia Metro /subway/”, seen as the one of the successful examples in the programme, is in its final stage.

OP "Regional Development" (OPRD) was defined as the engine program for the implementation of the necessary sectoral policies and reforms. Ms Panayotova welcomed the OPRD also for the focus it puts on the preparation of the new programming period. The programme successfully adapts to rising needs, applying a flexible and integrated approach to funding, incl. by launching of financial engineering instruments in 2011 – e.g. Urban Development Funds and the New Fund Manager for Housing. Ms Panayotova noted also progress with regards to OP "Competitiveness", largely as a result of the actual start of the JEREMIE initiative to support small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Regarding the OP "Human Resources", the CEAOEF reports significant progress in the financial performance achieved by doubling the amount of payments. However, given the crisis on the labour market in Bulgaria, the CEAOEF recommends that the program implements a flexible approach addressing these needs, particularly focusing on youth unemployment.
OP "Environment" registers a progress with the collection and evaluation of proposals in 2011, but payment levels still remain unsatisfactory (only 11% out of the 53% agreed in the programme budget). In this regard, the CEAOEF recommends accelerating the implementation of investment projects in the field "water" and "waste" given that these fields’ preparations within technical assistance projects come close to an end. Account is also given to means for financing of small agglomerations (between 2,000 and 10,000 population equivalents) for which a public notice has already been published and a large interest from the municipalities has been registered.
After presenting the progress of individual programmes, Ms Panayotova reported the results after CEAOEF’s recommendations in the Interim Report on the degree of implementation of European funds by the governing bodies. She outlined the remaining challenges within the current programming period and those associated with the vision of Bulgaria’s participation in the new programming period. She described the year 2012 as "year of implementation," in the context of the rising need to accelerate the verification of expenditure and to meet the set predictions for absorption. In the context of the preparation for the new programming period, Ms Panayotova expressed hope that when setting the financing priorities all stakeholders, including Parliament and the Presidency of the Republic of Bulgaria will be involved in the process.
Building on the SWOT analysis in the Interim Report which refers to an idea of creating a single centralized authority for managing EU funds after 2013, the CEAOEF further promotes an upgrade of the existing institutional framework so as to accelerate the process of preparing the programs and project. The report recommends that administration focuses its efforts on preparing in advance a list of well-defined projects with significant impact on economic and social development of regions whose implementation starts in the beginning of the programme period.
In conclusion, Ms. Panayotova summarized CEAOEF’s new programme period vision for the Cohesion Policy in 3 head letters - Regions, Reforms and Growth. The winning card for Bulgaria, according to her, is sustainable development of regions and turning them into "centres of growth" by creating specific regional sources of competitiveness and for implementing successful reforms. Finally, Ms Panayotova noted that in order to respond adequately to the new challenges facing the EU, in the process of programming one must take into account the fact that half of the funds of the future European Regional Development Fund are meant for investment in SMEs, innovation and energy efficiency.
In the following discussion, the CEAOEF members supported the idea forthcoming Commission report to focus exclusively on the study of the effects of implementing the programs (including physical implementation of projects and performance indicators), since such analysis is necessary for preparing the participation in the next programming period.
Minister Donchev, on his part, welcomed CEAOEF’s desire to become "auditor of policy" by refocusing from track specific financial data to more substantive issues of implementation of programs. In addition, Mr Donchev noted the importance of the parliament’s participation in generating new ideas for the new programming period and expressed hope by the end of 2013, all parties involved to support a "pact" of selected model and priorities that will guarantee the sustainability of the processes at the national level.