ANNUAL REPORT ON THE ABSORPTION ANNUAL REPORT ON THE ABSORPTION OF THE EU FUNDS IN THE REPUBLIC OF THE EU FUNDS IN THE REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA IN 2010OF BULGARIA IN 2010

MONIKA PANAYOTOVA, CHAIRWOMAN OF THE COMMITTEE ON EUROPEAN AFFAIRS AND

OVERSIGHT OF THE EUROPEAN FUNDS

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CONTENT

Financial implementation of the Operational programs - Leaders

Progress achieved / delay observed

Recommendations and vision regarding the oversight of the EU funds

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

OPT – Operational program “Transport” OPE – Operational program “Environment” OPRD – Operational program “Regional

development” OPHRD – Operational program “Human Resources

Development” OPC – Operational program “Competitiveness” OPAC – Operational program “Administrative

Capacity” OPTA – Operational program “Technical

Assistance” UMIS – Unified Management Information System

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SCOPE OF THE ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2010

21 EU-funded Programs, incl.: 7 Operational Programs under the Objective

1 ”Convergence” 5 Cross-Border Cooperation Operational

Programs under the Objective 3 “European Territorial Cooperation”

2 Programs under the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the European Fisheries Fund

The Schengen Facility, the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area, the Norwegian Cooperation Program and the Transition Facility

3 Pre-accession Programs (Phare, ISPA and SAPARD)

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CHRONOLOGY OF THE CONTRACTING UNDER THE SCHENGEN FACILITY

INDICATOR

2007 2008 I-VIII 2009 IX-XII 2009

2010

SHARE

0 % 1,43 % 26 % 35,57 % 37 %

CUMULATIVE SHARE 0 % 1,43 % 27,43 % 63 % 100 %

VALUE

0 € 1,84 M € 31 M € 48 M € 48,8 M €

CUMULATIVE VALUE 0 € 1,84 M € 32,84 M € 80,48 M € 129,64 M €

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FINANCIAL IMPLEMENTATION OF THE OPERATIONAL PROGRAMS UNDER THE OBJECTIVE 1 “CONVERGENCE” IN 2010

OP Payments Growth in

2010(times)

Paid at 31.12.2009г.

(EURO)

Paid at 31.12.2010г.

(EURO)

OPT 2,66 42 311 788 (2,11%)

112 503 609 (5,62%)

ОPE 2,54 49 428 496 (2,74%)

125 357 474 (6,96%)

ОPRD 5,96 31 087 583 (1,94%)

185 430 539 (11,58%)

ОPHRD 2,71 39 831 993 (3,28%)

108 121 506 (8,91%)

ОPC 48,54 4 655 169 (0,40%)

225 968 378 (19,44%)

ОPAC 1,20 37 865 892 (20,94%)

45 433 077 (25,13%)

ОPTA 2,27 2 750 495 (4,84%)

6 250 139 (11%)

TOTAL 3,89 207 931 416 (2,59%)

809 064 722 (10,01%)

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Period Leaders in contracting Leaders in payment

At 31

December 2009

OPAC OPAC

OPC OPTA

OPRD OPHRD

At 30 June

2010

OPHRD OPAC

OPRD OPC

OPAC OPHRD

At 31

December 2010

OPRD (1,8 times growth in 2010)

OPAC (1,2 times growth in 2010)

OPHRD (2,2 times growth in 2010)

OPC (49 times growth in 2010)

OPAC (1,2 times growth in 2010)

OPRD(6 times growth in 2010)

LEADING OPERATIONAL PROGRAMMES IN TERMS OF CONTRACTING AND PAYMENT AT 31 DECEMBER 2010

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Performance in 2010 Operational Programme

Excellent achievement of the objectives related to contracting and payment in 2010 Probably

remaining leaders again in 2011

OPRD

OPAC

Good performance in 2010 in contracting, but not so good in payment in comparison to the

leaders

OPHRD

Low contracting rate, but good financial management of already

contracted projects

OPT

OPTA

Weakest performance in 2010Accumulated delay, but measures

for compensating in 2011 undertaken

OPC (not taking into account JEREMIE progress)

OPE

COMPARING OPERATIONAL PROGRAMMES ON THE EXTENT OF LOTHAR 2010 FORECASTS

IMPLEMENTATION

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STATUS OF THE OPERATIONAL PROGRAMMES UNDER STATUS OF THE OPERATIONAL PROGRAMMES UNDER THE OBJECTIVE 1 THE OBJECTIVE 1 ““CONVERGENCECONVERGENCE”” - AT - AT 3131 DECEMBER DECEMBER 20102010

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1

2

3

4

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6

7

8

9

Bln. €

TOTAL OPRD OPT OPHRD OPE OPC OPAC OPTA

Total Budget

Contracted

Paid

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PROGRESS ACHIEVED IN THE EU FUNDS MANAGEMENT IN 2010

Positive Compliance Assessment of the management and control systems by the European Commission and the opportunity for making interim payments related to it;

In 2010 a significant growth has been achieved in the payments under the Operational Programs ( 289,1% in the period 31.12.2009г. - 31.12.2010г. or new 601,1 MEUR have reached the Bulgarian beneficiaries) and in the contracting (over 55% or more than 1 Billion Euro) compared to 2009;

Building a stable system for good coordination and control in the EU funds management via institutional, legislative and administrative measures;

Improved communication and cooperation with our partners in Brussels and the International Financial Institutions and creation of opportunities for access to expertise in specific sectors;

Increasing transparency in the process of the EU funds management and a better dialogue between the state administration and the groups of beneficiaries in the country – monthly meetings with the National Association of the Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria;

Improvement of the legislation, related to the Public Procurement and less administrative burden - changes in the Public Procurement Law in 2010.

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RECCOMENDATIONS AND VISION (1)

Unification of the project application and reporting documents

Less administrative burden in project reporting. Introduction of on-line project application and progress reporting

More focus on the implementation of the project activities, rather than on the forms for project reporting

Synchronization of the financial information, generated by different sources (UMIS, Certifying Authority, OP Management Authority)

Further enhancement of the administrative capacity and limiting qualified staff turn-over within the OP Managing Authorities and Intermediate Bodies on central and local level

Overcoming the delay in the OP implementation, generated by the requirements of the Public Procurement Law – measures undertaken

Further improvement of the regulatory framework for the EU Funds management – opportunities for unification

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RECCOMENDATIONS AND VISION (2)Why do we need a Law on the EU Funds management? Need for sustainable regulation of this specific area

and greater legal stability for both – administration and beneficiaries

A new institutional framework could be better introduced only with a single legal act

Clear national vision for the EU Funds management in the next programming period in line with the new trends in the planning of the future Cohesion Policy, as well as in the context of the Europe 2020 Strategy

Maximum unification and simplification of the current procedures (incl. introduction of template documents)

More effective inter-relation with other laws, such as - the Public Procurement Law, the Law on investments, the Administrative Procedural Code

Such practice exists in some of the other EU Member-States

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RECCOMENDATIONS AND VISION (3)Law on the EU Funds management – experience in the EU Member-States

Member-States with a Law on the EU Funds management - Greece, Denmark, some of the new Member-States – Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia Scope of the Law: Overall institutional framework for management, monitoring and control of the EU Funds (Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia) Along with the funds available under the Structural instruments of the EU, the law regulates also the financial allocations from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the European Fisheries Fund (Greece, Slovakia) Project selection procedures Appeal Procedures

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RECCOMENDATIONS AND VISION (4)

Need for additionality in the implementation of the Operational Programs and synergy effect generation

Debate on the new Cohesion Policy – challenges of the country

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RECCOMENDATIONS AND VISION (5)

Challenges of the country in the light of the Future Cohesion Policy after 2013

Concentration of the European and national resources on few key priorities which correspond to the specific needs of the country and are in line with the Europe 2020 Strategy, thus achieving a stronger impact

For each chosen key priority the country should set clear and measureable targets and indicators in the beginning of the programming period which will enable the evaluation of the progress achieved

Guaranteeing a stable macroeconomic environment and strong institutional framework, which are an essential prerequisite for receiving EU Structural Funds support

Targeting the Structural Funds assistance at achieving visible results changing citizens’ life

Active participation in the debates concerning the introduction of conditionalities in allocation of the Structural Funds assistance

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THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!

MONIKA PANAYOTOVA, CHAIRWOMAN

COMMITTEE ON EUROPEAN AFFAIRS AND OVERSIGHT OF THE EUROPEAN FUNDSE-mail: kei@parliament.bg

Tel.: (+359 2) 987 38 88Fax: (+359 2) 987 55 03