EU Structural funds in Bulgaria

OPERATIONAL PROGRAMME “ENVIRONMENT” RECEIVED A VERY GOOD EVALUATION OF ITS MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL SYSTEM

The findings are from the annual report of the audit agency regarding the OPE expenditures for 2010. 

The management and control systems of Operational Programme "Environment" function effectively and ensure that the European Commission receives accurate reports about the programme expenditures. This is the conclusion made in the report of the Executive Agency "Audit of EU Funds" which audited 100% of the OPE payments for 2010. The audit covered a total of 52 projects receiving BGN38 million in payments. The audit registered a significant improvement of the financial controls with the irregularities found in the payment requests for the projects amounting to BGN41 thousand or 0.11% given a threshold of 2%. This is a very low level of error not only in national, but also in European terms. 

Brussels gave a positive assessment of the new OPE management and control systems at the beginning of 2010 after MEW took urgent measures aimed at ensuring that the funds requested from the Commission are accurate. The annual audit report of the audit agency confirms that the overall controls over the public procurement procedures are effective and the errors made by the beneficiaries are promptly corrected so that the Commission receives requests which are in line with the European regulations which in turn is a guarantee that the expenditures paid to the beneficiaries will be reimbursed  to the national budget. Before the measures were taken, the error rate for the programme as a whole was 6-9% in 2009 compared to 0.11% a year later. 

Achieving full absorption of the Operational Programme "Environment" funds depends on the preparation of good projects implemented by way of public procurement in line with the law and high-quality contract execution. If one of these elements is lacking, this creates difficulties in the reimbursement of the expenditures on the part of the Commission.  The professional implementation of the existing commitments will provide Bulgaria with a good starting position in the negotiations for the new financial framework 2014 - 2020.

In the middle of 2009 the absorption rate of the programme was under half a percent whereas at the end of 2011 the rate is eleven percent. It is expected that all funds available under the programme will be contracted in 2012 and the payments to the beneficiaries will exceed 20%.