Bulgaria 23rd in EU by EU Funds Absorption
Monday, 23 February 2015
Bulgaria ranks 23rd by EU funds absorption in the 28-nation bloc, according to statistics published by the European Commission's Directorate General for Regional Policy on the 2007-2013 programming period.
Bulgaria reported a share of 65.5% of funds paid, preceded by Spain with a 72.8% rate of absorption and followed by Italy, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, and Croatia, according to Sega daily.
The first four spots in the ranking were occupied by Lithuania (93.7%), Portugal (92.6%), and Estonia (92.3%).
Bulgaria is to manage to certify expenses amounting to 5 billion levs at the European Commission by end-2015 in order to prevent losses of EU funding, according to statistics on the implementation of the 7 EU operational programs by February 10, 2015 provided by the government and published by Sega daily.
Expenditure already certified under all operational programs stood at 4.2 billion euros by February 10, 2015, with Bulgaria seeking to absorb a total of 6.6 billion euros in 2015.
Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev announced recently that the EU funds absorption target for 2015 included a total of 4.5 billion levs from the 2007-2013 programming period plus 1.1 billion levs from the current programming period.
On Thursday, the EC approved two more operational programs, Good Governance and Science and Education for Smart Growth, under which Bulgaria could receive a total of 1 billion euros by 2020.