SOFIA (Bulgaria), July 23 (SeeNews) - The European Commission on Wednesday urged Bulgaria to show results in fighing high level corruption and organised crime and barred two Bulgarian government agencies from handling EU funds.
The commission suspends 486 million euro ($766) in aid to Bulgaria, European Commission spokesman Mark Gray told reporters in Brussels.
Bulgarian and foreign media have earlier speculated that corruption and fraud in Bulgaria could threaten with suspension the release of some 11 billion euros ($17.5 billion) in EU farm subsidies and regional development aid to the EU newcomer for the period 2007-2013.
The EU executive has halted payment of 115 million euro infrastructure aid due to mismanagement in Bulgaria’s road agency, 250 million euro under EU’s pre-accession programme PHARE and 121 million euro under SAPARD programme for aid to farmers, Gray said. The Commission also withdrew the accreditation of the Central Financing and Contracting Unit at the Finance Ministry and the Implementing Agency at the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, effectively banning them from handling EU funds.
The Commission approved on Wednesday a series of reports on the progress which Bulgaria and Romania have made in the areas of judicial reform and the fight against corruption. The two Black Sea neighbours joined the EU in January 2007. After admitting Bulgaria, the EU set tough conditions for post-entry benchmarking, which analysts have described as "membership under monitoring".
"These reports are a reality check - they show that both the Bulgarian and Romanian Governments need to step up their efforts on judicial reform, corruption and in the case of Bulgaria, organised crime," European Commission President José Manuel Barroso said in a statement.
The reports show that the institutions and systems are now in place but tangible results need to be achieved in investigating, prosecuting and judging cases of high level corruption and organised crime, he added.
The Commission has also sent a strong signal today that EU funds must be managed properly, but said that it is prepared to reverse its decision to withdraw the accreditation of the two implementing agencies as soon as Bulgaria takes the necessary corrective measures to improve financial management and tighten control systems.
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