1. ROUND TABLE “Exchanging Experience in Absorption of the European Funds: Perspectives for Bulgaria and Poland” 1 April 2011, Sofia Tomislav Donchev Minister of European Union Funds Management European Union

2. Table of Contents OPs’ state of play Main challenges Measures taken Forthcoming steps Debate on the future of Cohesion Policy National development programme: Bulgaria 2020 New management system post-2013 European Union

3. Institutional Framework OP Monitoring Committee Court of Auditors Intermediate Body Managing Authority NSRF Monitoring Committee Audit Authority Certifying Authority Beneficiaries Legend reporting feedback Central Coordination Unit Minister for the management of EU Funds Council for coordination of the management of EU funds European Union

4. Financial implementation of OPs /MEUR/ OP BudgetContracted Funds Share of contracted funds PaymentsShare of payments Transport2 003,51 070,053,41%144,37,20% Environment1 800,7549,830,53%135,37,52% Regional development 1 601,3825,451,55%207,912,98% Competitiveness1 162,2426,336,68%235,820,29% Technical assistance56,819,419,434,21%6,26,210,92% Human resources development 1 213,9578,347,64%104,88,63%8,63% Administrative capacity 180,886,147,60%45,225,02% TOTAL:8 019,23 555,444,34%879,610.97% European Union

5. The challenges we met... Complicated and not unified procedures Delays in the evaluation process Lack of funds for co-financing and pre-financing project activities Delays in the payments to the beneficiaries Insufficient administrative capacity of the beneficiaries and of the structures responsible for the management of EU Funds European Union

6. Measures taken: simplification Strengthened coordination mechanism Optimization of the project selection mechanism Optimization of the Public Procurement legislation Simplification of the procedures for selection of contractors by private bodies Simplification of the payments process European Union

7. Measures taken: unification of procedures Elaboration of a National Methodology on imposing financial corrections Unification of the deadlines for verification of expenditure and for making payments to the beneficiaries Elaboration of appeal procedures on project selection and for selection of contractors by private bodies European Union

8. Measures taken: ensuring financial resources for the beneficiaries Increasing the advance payments for public beneficiaries up to 35% Elaboration of financial instruments with the support of IFIs: –FLAG Fund –Credit mechanism through Bulgarian Development Bank –JESSICA –JEREMIE European Union

9. Measures taken: cooperation with IFIs Technical assistance from the IFIs for the preparation and implementation of EU-funded projects Utilization of IFI’s experience in drafting strategic documents and making administrative reforms in the transport and water sectors IFIs to be paid for their services by OP’s technical assistance Open issues: public procurement rules and audit procedures European Union

10. Measures taken: strengthening the administrative capacity Trainings for the beneficiaries Central pool of mobile experts Recruiting assistants on the management of European programmes and projects Effective use of the technical assistance European Union

11. Forthcoming activities Extending the scope of the Methodology on imposing financial corrections Mechanism for financial support to municipalities not able to pay imposed financial corrections Law on EU Funds Public Procurement Law European Union

12. National Position on the Fifth Report on Economic, Social and Territorial Cohesion SCF – key importance for the financing of the “Europe 2020” Strategy By earmarking the funds the different level of development of the regions should be taken into account CP has a broader scope than the “Europe 2020” Strategy Opportunity to invest in sectors outside the scope of the “Europe 2020” Strategy should exist Increased use of the instruments for financial engineering European Union

13. National Position on the Fifth Report on Economic, Social and Territorial Cohesion(2) Common Strategic Framework on EU level and Development and Investment Partnership Contract encompassing the CF, ERDF, ESF, EAFRD and EFF Reservation on conditionality issues: –They should not be imposed on structural reforms in sectors external for the CP –Conditionalities with regard to Stability and Growth Pact should not be applied –The mechanism of their definition should be clear European Union

14. Challenges Spring 2011: Proposal of the Future Financial Perspective Summer 2011: Legislative proposals End 2012: Adoption of the new legislative package and expected agreement on the new Financial Perspective after 2013 The reform should not lead to: –Additional administrative burden –Complication –Introduction of additional levels of control –Necessity of additional time and resources for implementation European Union

15. National Development Programme : Bulgaria 2020 Long-term Framework Document, encompassing all sectors and sources of financing Basis for programming of the strategic documents/programmes in the next programme period Prepared according to the principles for: oTransparency oPartnership European Union

16. NDP: Bulgaria 2020 – forthcoming steps Formulation of vision, strategic objectives and priorities Elaboration of the indicative financial allocation Elaboration of detailed sectoral strategies Preparation of financial tables and indicators Ex-ante evaluation of the effects of planned measures Compliance assessment and additionality verification of the NDP: Bulgaria 2020 with other programming documents Mechanism for monitoring and control of the implementation of the NDP: Bulgaria 2020 European Union

17. New Management system after 2013 Management structure: –Development Agency – new centralized structure, encompassing the CCU, the Certifying Authority and of Managing Authorities of the OPs – centralization on national level –Intermediate bodies – 6 decentralized regional structures оn NUTS 2 level Law on Management of EU Funds

18. New Management system after 2013(2) Systems for management and control – optimization and adaptation – annual management declarations Shift of the competitive start – from application phase to the programming phase Standardization of documents – procedural manuals, application forms European Union

19. Expected effects from the changes in management structure after 2013 Improvement of the coordination; Ensuring better additionality of the interventions from different funds Regionalization of the process of programming and implementation Simplification – reduction of level of control European Union

20. Thank you for your attention! www.eufunds.bg European Union