Bulgaria gets new minister for EU funds
(SOFIA) - The Bulgarian parliament approved Thursday the appointment of a minister with responsibility for stamping out corruption in the use of EU funds.
Tomislav Donchev, 36, is a former director of the Sofia branch of George Soros' Open Society Institute and has worked extensively in the area of EU project management and consulting.
Amid concern over corruption Brussels froze 825 million euros in pre-accession aid for Bulgaria in 2008 and subsequently stripped Bulgaria of 200 million euros of that money.
Last month, Sofia obtained permission from Brussels to apply for some 6.4 billion euros of post-accession aid available between 2007 and 2013.
Nevertheless, a parliamentary commission recently found that the country risked losing most of that aid because Bulgaria has so far used just 1.3 percent of the total of 15 billion euros of pre- and post-accession aid.
A member of the ruling right-wing GERB party, Donchev was elected mayor of the small town of Gabrovo in 2007, where he managed to win Brussels' approval for a water distribution project worth 63 million euros (86 million dollars).
Text and Picture Copyright 2010 AFP. All other Copyright 2010 EUbusiness Ltd. All rights reserved. This material is intended solely for personal use. Any other reproduction, publication or redistribution of this material without the written agreement of the copyright owner is strictly forbidden and any breach of copyright will be considered actionable.