Monica Panayotova held a meeting with the EU Commissioner on Taxation, Customs, Anti-fraud and Audit - Algirdas Šemeta

15/01/2011

The chairwoman of the European Affairs and control of EU funds Monika Panayotova held a meeting with Mr. Algirdas Šemeta - EU Commissioner on Taxation, Customs, Anti-fraud and Audit. The meeting was attended by MPs, members of the European Affairs and control of EU funds.

In his welcoming speech, Mr. Šemeta expressed his pleasure to meet the Bulgarian MPs and reassured that the active dialogue between the European institutions and the national parliaments is extremely important, especially in the Lisbon Treaty context. Mr. Šemeta noted that the principle areas for Bulgaria to focus its efforts on are fighting corruption and fraud; finalizing the lawsuits, initiated by OLAF and recovering the unrightfully spent EU funding. In this regard, Mr. Šemeta pointed out that good financial governance and fraud control would have key significance in the negotiations on the next financial framework of the EU budget. “The efficiency of Bulgaria’s judicial system is the main problem we address”, the EU Commissioner remarked. He also mentioned that the problem had been identified in the assessment report, prepared within the Mechanism for Cooperation and Verification.

Ms. Panayotova emphasized on the importance of an independent judicial system, sharing her belief that the will for reforms has to emerge from the system itself and shouldn’t be subject to outside influence.Ms. Panayotova, for her part, expressed her confidence that the dialogue between the national parliaments and the European Commission in the light of the Lisbon Treaty would deepen even more in the future. She also highlighted the key functions of the Committee she chairs. She explained that the CEAOEF exercises parliamentary control over the absorption of EU funds in Bulgaria through regular hearings, related to the progress made under the Programs, funded by the EU. This form of parliamentary control over the EU funds management is a necessary corrective and preventive measure and helps Bulgarian authorities in their pursuit of transparent and effective expenditure of the EU funds. The CEAOEF control realizes through the elaboration of Midterm and Annual Reports on the absorption of EU funds in the Republic of Bulgaria, incl. the Schengen Facility. Together with the findings on the progress, achieved under the monitored Operational Programs and financial instruments, these reports also contain a detailed analysis of the problems in the EU funds management system and recommendations for their solution. According to Ms. Panayotova, the MPs from the governing majority highly appreciate the citizens’ control over the EU funds absorption and stay in touch with the direct beneficiaries, who are closer to the real progress and problems of the Operation Programs.She greeted the efforts of the Bulgarian Government to guarantee the transparency of the absorption – the implementation of the UMIS system and the regular meetings between the Managing Authorities and the beneficiaries, dedicated to resolving difficulties in the Grant Schemes application and the practical implementation of the projects.