EC Releases 115 Million Euro for Bulgaria

The European Commission has announced the release of 115 million euro from European funds for Bulgaria, blocked for nearly a year because of suspicions of corruption, reported AFP. Nearly 465 million euro from funds for Sofia remains to be tapped.

“The today decision is the result of a depth activities of the Bulgarian authorities together with my services, “said the regional policy commissioner Danuta Hübner.

“This marks a positive step toward to normalization of transmission of European funds to Bulgaria”.

According to Die Welt, unblocking money comes as a bonus for unexpected Socialist Premier Sergei Stanishev, before the general election of July 5, which, according to surveys, will be won by GERB, the popular party of Sofia mayor, Boiko Borisov.

EC blocked in July 2008 around 800 million euro from funds for Bulgaria, of which 220 million have been lost forever. A little over 100 million were attributed to regional funds assigned to some road projects, managed by the national road infrastructure Agency. These funds have been unlocked.