Contribution to Interview of Commissioner Corina Crețu with the portal of the Bulgarian municipalities “KMETA.BG” – DG REGIO Unit E3 – Bulgaria – April 24, 2017
Corina Crețu (born June 24, 1967 in Bucharest. She is a Romanian politician and the incumbent European Commissioner for Regional Policy. Crețu is a member of the Romanian Social Democratic Party (PSD), and former Member of the European Parliament (sitting with the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats). Between June 2014 and October 2014, she served as a Vice-President of the European Parliament.
Question 1: What is the rate of absorption of EU funds in Bulgaria? Two years ago you have announced that the absorption of EU funds in Bulgaria is 83% on average for the EU – 88%. Is our country doing better today?
Bulgaria is amongst the better performing new Member States in terms of cohesion policy implementation. It is a bit premature, however, to talk about absorption of EU funds of the new programming period as the last Bulgarian programmes were only adopted two years ago.
Currently the selection rate of projects on the ground stands at 34% (contracted amounts of total budget for all Cohesion Fund and ERDF funded programmes) according to the latest information provided by the Bulgarian authorities. This represents a substantially better start of the new programming period than the 2007-2013 one.
As for the last programming period, the Commission is currently analysing closure documentation from all Member States. Nevertheless, payments by the Commission to Bulgaria by the end of 2016 had already reached 95% of the budget across all Operational Programmes, something that Bulgaria can be proud of considering that the 2007-2013 period was the very first Cohesion Policy period for the country.
Question 2: Is there a formula for more growth at the regional level? What would you advise the Bulgarian government – how could the EU financial instruments for the regions be used better and in particular for our poorest region – the Northwest?
Look, there is no single formula for growth at regional or national level. Each region needs to follow its own based on its specifities, its strengths and weaknesses. The only tool that can help all EU regions regardless of their geography or specificities is the full and sound use of EU funds and instruments.
Through the operational programme “Competitiveness and Innovation”, Bulgaria is already implementing a targeted policy towards the Northwest region that boosts enterprise development. Financial instruments such as loans for young entrepreneurs or microcredits to name but two can also contribute to the economic growth of under-developed regions.
However enterprise development alone cannot deliver sustainable growth; one needs to think about education and infrastructure.
On another more general level, the Commission’s Investment Plan for Europe (EFSI) has started strongly. To maintain momentum the Commission proposed in September to extend the initial three-year period of our Investment Plan with a target of EUR 315 billion to at least half a trillion euro investments by the end of 2020 (EFSI 2.0).
The Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) totalling some EUR 450 billion over the period 2014-2020 represent the EU’s biggest investment support. Using a mix of ESIF and EFSI, and I apologise for the use of jargon!, can help Bulgaria’s municipalities and regions strengthen their economic growth.
Question 3: Operational Programme “Regions in growth” and OP “Environment” had provoked contradictions between Brussels and Sofia. The European Commission insisted that financing should be concentrated on cities that generate economic growth; Bulgaria on the other side would like more municipalities to have access to the resources of the program. Do you think this is unfair? Smaller municipalities in Bulgaria for example, also have different projects and need EU funding?
EU cohesion policy is the main source of public investment in Bulgaria helping the country’s economy become more competitive and attracting more private and foreign investment. For 2014-2020, ESIF investments in Bulgaria are directed at key areas where they are most likely to create jobs and have most impact: supporting small businesses; creating a research and innovation system for Bulgaria; helping young people build a future, preventing intellectual brain drain; and supporting essential infrastructure and vital transport links.
To increase the impact of the funds on the ground, I very much welcome the ambition of the Bulgarian authorities to double the use of financial instruments in the new period. This is where the real opportunity lies with the Bulgarian municipalities – they need to be able to combine our funds with private funding, thus achieving better leverage.
What remains to be demonstrated by the Bulgarian authorities, both national and local, in the new programming period is the shift in the way our Structural and Investment Funds will be implemented going forward. Our policy itself has changed to become a more performance-driven and results-orientated. In that respect, Bulgaria needs to demonstrate a more efficient and effective way of approaching structural funds expenditure on the ground that is also free of irregularities. The municipalities therefore need to follow a results-orientated approach in their aim to achieve a better quality of life for the Bulgarian citizens.
Therefore, all multi-level governance bodies and all Bulgarian stakeholders should contribute to a more efficient and better value way of spending EU taxpayer’s funds in your country.
Question 4: For the period 2014-2020 the Mechanism for Connecting Europe supported the implementation of major improvements in water corridor Rhine -Danube – a large cross-border project. What is the direct benefit for Bulgaria?
The Connecting Europe Facility does not fall within my competences. Nevertheless, what we know is that the main goal of that project is to implement the so-called “Fairway Rehabilitation and Maintenance Master Plan” of the Danube in order to ensure good navigation conditions throughout the year by providing a minimum level of service on the river Danube.
In particular, Bulgaria will benefit from improved hydrological information on the Danube River’s conditions on the Bulgarian side. The analysis will be carried out thanks to the purchase of specialized surveying and marking vessels.
The results will be used to improve the maintenance and rehabilitation of this section of the Danube ultimately leading to improved navigation conditions providing higher safety and service quality.
Question 5: 2018 will be the European Year of Cultural Heritage, this could be also used to promote tourism in general. Do you think it will affect the regions and in particular the regions in Bulgaria?
I think it will, especially that Bulgaria is coordinator of the Priority Area 3 of the Danube Strategy which is “To promote culture and tourism”.
In addition, the Bulgarian Regional Development programme includes a “regional tourism” priority. It therefore supports the conservation and promotion of cultural heritage of national and world significance and could contribute to creating complete tourist attractions based on the most popular cultural sites in the Danube regions. These funding opportunities, if used wisely, can be combined with the European Year of Cultural Heritage and promote even more Bulgaria’s numerous protected areas and cultural heritage sites of national and international importance.
Question 6: Ministers for European Affairs of seven EU countries have supported the idea for a minimum wage in all European Member States in accordance with national practices and the social partners. Do you think this is possible? Currently, the minimum wage in the 28 states is very various – for example, Bulgaria and Romania with 235 and 275 euros and – Luxembourg with almost 2,000 euros.
This question is well-timed. Indeed, on 26 April, a few days ago thus, the Commission adopted a “social package” that covered many social aspects, the broad idea being that Europe cares about the well-being of each citizen. One of the points was about work and addressed the issue of wages. We propose that all wages be set in a transparent and predictable way, in full respect of national practice, including the right to collective bargaining of social partners and their autonomy. Within this context, transparency means that well-established consultation procedures should be followed when setting the minimum wage, leading to consensus between relevant national authorities, the social partners and possibly independent experts. We also call for predictability of wage decisions, for example through the definition of rules such as adjustment to the cost of living for minimum wages
Most Member States already have a national statutory minimum wage while, for the for the few Member States that do not have a statutory minimum wage, different wage floors are set by the social partners through collective agreements, often at sector level. The package does not challenge in any way this diversity of practices and recognises the autonomy of the social partners.
