Minister Lorer: New rules for control of spending EU funds under consideration

Everything related to the National Recovery Plan and the European programmes is on schedule, said the Minister of Innovation and Growth, Daniel Lorer, who was on a visit to Blagoevgrad, South-Western Bulgaria, on March 29..

He stressed that in the new operational period there will be a number of changes to avoid any possibilities of misuse of EU funds.

"The changes we are introducing will be very interesting. First of all, we will involve a number of bodies in the programming process and in the process of monitoring the programmes. We are talking about the bodies monitoring the spending of EU funds in the Ministry of the Interior, as well as other bodies. In addition, we are involving external experts in the evaluation of the more complex projects, and from abroad, so that there are no suspicions of conflicts of interest. The simpler projects, on the other hand, will for the most part be based on pre-prepared product catalogues, so that there are no doubts about the products being purchased under EU programmes and their prices. Grant schemes will now be 50% intensive, which greatly reduces the possibility of misuse," said Minister Lorer.

He took part in the first regional forum "Investment and Innovation in Blagoevgrad" organised by the local municipality together with the American University in Bulgaria.