At a regular sitting held on May 30 2012 the Committee on European Affairs and Oversight of the European Funds (CEAOEF) discussed the progress in the absorption of the funds provided through the Operational Programme “Development of the Competitiveness of the Bulgarian Economy” 2007-2013.
Mr. Delyan Dobrev – Minister of the Economy, Energy and Tourism, and Mr. Kiril Geratliev – General Director of the Directorate “European Funds for Competitiveness” within the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism, were the executive branch representatives who partook in the meeting. Mr. Rumen Radev and Mr. Boyan Boychev – Vice-Chairmen of the Managing Board of the Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association, Mrs. Beata Papazova – advisor on European Integration and Projects at the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Mr. Kamen Kolev – Vice-President of the Bulgarian Industrial Association and Chairman of the Council for Public Consultations at CEAOEF, also took part in the meeting in their capacity of representatives of the business sector.
The meeting provided a forum for the discussion of a wide range of issues related to the implementation of the Operational Programme, and placed a special emphasis on the following matters:
63 % of the programme budget is currently being implemented. The remaining 37% cover the financial instrument JEREMIE; the Energy Efficiency programme; Sofia Tech Park and several procedures, which are expected to be launched by the end of this year.
Overbooking is the quickest means to improving the Programme implementation, while the re-allocation of the funds will take place simultaneously with the concrete schemes reconsideration so that the candidacy venues, the requirements and the activities which would receive funding might attract more interest.
The meeting introduced the Directorate “European Funds for Competitiveness” - the new management structure of the programme which was created after the fusion of the Managing Authority and the Intermediate Body. The purpose of the new structure is to achieve a higher degree of flexibility and effectiveness thanks to cuts in bureaucracy and in the deadlines for reaching expert decisions. The raise in the quality of the administrative work and the improvement of the relationship with the beneficiaries also aim at increasing the absorption of the European funds.
As evidenced in the discussions on the matter of the new Programming Period 2014-2020, financial engineering is an important topic in the new regulations. However, grant schemes should be preserved as much as possible due to their popularity among Bulgarian beneficiaries.
CEAOEF’s Chairwoman Ms. Monika Panayotova expressed her satisfaction with the fact that a big part of the recommendations made by CEAOEF in its Interim and Annual Reports on EU funds absorption are being taken into account and followed. She also inquired for more information about Sofia Tech Park. Minister Dobrev explained that the project was launched three weeks before with the registration of a subsidiary within “Industrial Zones” with a starting capital of 3 million leva. This firm will have its own executive director and a certain number of experts, who will initiate the procedures for the acquisition of the land, designated for the construction of the park, and will take part in all discussions with the interested parties. He also explained that the joint efforts of the administration, business and academic representatives should make the new technological park useful for everyone by utilizing this collaboration to its best potential.
The MP’s voiced their approval of the Managing Authority’s expert approach and wished it good luck in its task to accelerate the processes for contracting and disbursing the Programme funds.

The Report from the hearing can be found at: http://parliament.bg/bg/parliamentarycommittees/members/240/reports/ID/3565