President-Elect Promises Science Academy Further 7.2 Mln Euro by Mid-2012
Bulgaria's president-elect Rosen Plevneliev said the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) will receive a further 14.0 million levs ($9.5 million/7.2 million euro) from the state budget by mid-2012.
"These 14 million are vital and they must be provided by mid-2012 [...] The Ministry of Finance is also working on a three-year financial framework and I hope it will provide the funding necessary for BAS's reform," Capital Daily quoted Plevneliev as saying during a meeting with BAS President Nikola Sabotinov. At the meeting Sabotinov handed Plevneliev a copy of the academy's three-year development programme.
In mid-November Plevneliev met with BAS's management and pledged to lobby before parliament to allocate to the academy next year 5.0 million levs more than planned. Last week Parliament adopted next year's state budget raising funding for the academy' to 62.13 million levs from 54 million levs envisaged in the budget bill.