Regionaal beleid 2007-2013: plannen Europese Commissie voor het vervoer en transportbeleid van Bulgarije (en)

A ceremony to mark the approval of two major programmes for environment and transport will take place in Brussels today. Regional policy Commissioner Danuta Hübner i will receive Bulgarian minister of Finance Mr Plamen Oresharski, minister for Transport Mr Peter Vasilev Mutafchiev, and minister for Environment Mr Djevdet Chakarov for the signing of programmes launching EU investment worth €3 billion for 2007-2013 to boost the country's development.

Speaking ahead of the ceremony, Commissioner Hübner said: " The programmes for transport and environment represent nearly half of EU investment in Bulgaria for 2007-2013. They will to a great extent determine the success of Cohesion Policy in Bulgaria over those years and will contribute to sustainable economic growth and job creation. I welcome Bulgaria's efforts so far to reform its administration and reinforce capacity to manage EU investment, and encourage it to go on with these efforts. ".

The two programmes adopted secure investment from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Cohesion Fund. Key actions:

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  Transport programme ( €1.6 billion of EU investment) will contribute to reducing congestion, noise and pollution, and promoting use of environment-friendly modes of transport, such as railway infrastructure, the extension of the Sofia metro and the improvement of navigation on the river Danube (for instance, a Vessel Traffic Management and Information system will be established). New motorways will be built and the existing routes will be upgraded along the Trans-European and major national transport routes, such as the I-1 (E 79) Vratza-Botevgrad, the Struma Motorway and the Maritza Motorway.
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  Environment programme (€1.4 billion of EU investment) targets infrastructure for water supply and waste water treatment: 65 new or rehabilitated waste water treatment plants are planned by 2013. It will also improve waste management facilities and reduce the number of contaminated sites (caused by abandoned wastes, neglected industrial sites, incorrectly stored wastes, impacts caused by past emergencies). In these sectors, standards in Bulgaria need to be raised to those required by European directives. The protection of biodiversity, very rich in Bulgaria, will also be a priority.

Notes for Editors

The approval of these two operational programmes for transport and environment follows validation of the Bulgarian National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) on 20 June 2007. The NSRF contains the national plan and priorities for Cohesion policy 2007-2013 in Bulgaria and describes how the Bulgarian authorities are going to invest EU funding of € 6.8 billion over seven years to deliver growth and jobs.

All seven Operational Programmes for Bulgaria under the Structural and Cohesion Funds for the programming period 2007-2013 have now been approved by the Commission. The Competitiveness programme was adopted on 26 September and the Regional Development programme on 5 November. Together with the programme for Technical Assistance, the Transport and Environment programmes were formally adopted on 7 November. Two programmes financed out of the European Social Fund (ESF), Human Resources Development and Administrative Capacity, were approved on 3 October 2007.

With national co-financing, the Transport programme totals € 2 billion and the Environment programme € 1.8 billion. The Minister for Finance is responsible for co-ordination of Cohesion Policy in Bulgaria.

For more information on the programmes:

See the accompanying MEMO/07/511 and MEMO/07/512 and the following Website

http://www.eufunds.bg