The European Commissioner for Budget and Financial Programming Janusz Lewandowski  has met with members of the parliamentary Committees on European Affairs and European Funds Oversight and on Budget and Finance. In a statement for the media the chairwoman of the Committee on European Affairs and European Funds Control Monika Panayotova announced that the main subject of the talks was the European Commission’s proposals for the Multi Annual Financial Framework for the 2014-2020 period. She pointed out that the Bulgarian side had expressed reservations about the new European level taxes, proposed by the commission, namely the tax on financial transactions and VAT. She explained that the stand of the parliamentary committees reflects the reservations of the business in the country, voiced at their joint meetings held last month.

The European Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski declared that the EU cohesion policy funding is intended for the implementation of big scale infrastructure projects and does not envisage decrease of the funding for Bulgaria. He said he can not tell the exact amounts, which will be allocated due to their dependance on the forecast for the economic development of the different Member Countries. In his view the economic prospects of Bulgaria are favorable and thus the country could expect more funds for infrastructure projects than the amount received at the moment.

The Commissioner commented also on the direct payments for farmers and the proposed financial transactions levy. He pointed out that Bulgaria is heading towards a noticeable increase in the direct payments for farmers but that their complete equalization among the Member Countries is not feasible at the moment, due to political factors. As to the objection of Bulgaria on the imposition of an European financial transactions levy, he said the country's economy would be among those least affected. He emphasized that the EU budget needs additional revenues for the sake of funding the cohesion policy, the agricultural and scientific research sectors and repeated the tax would affect Bulgaria the least.