Sat, Nov 21 2009

Bulgarian opposition parties call for Government's resignation, early elections over EU funds cutoff

Wed, Nov 26 2008 14:16 CET byPetar Kostadinov 133 Views

The right-wing opposition in Parliament has called on Bulgaria's Government to resign because of the European Commission's November 25 2008 decision not to renew the accreditations of two Government agencies responsible for the allocation of 220 million euro of EU funds.

The deadline for applying for the money is November 30 2008, which means that Bulgaria has lost the money irretrievably.

Krisztina Nagy, spokesperson for European Enlargement Commission Olli Rehn, said: "We hope that Bulgaria will now take urgently the necessary steps to improve the management of the funds". She said that it was unprecedented for a member state to lose funds this way.

The loss of the money made the right-wing Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria ask for early elections ahead of the 2009 regular elections for Parliament.

Centre-right opposition party the United  Democratic Forces asked Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev to report to Parliament on the issue although he is currently on a two-day visit to Germany.

Right-wing opposition party Bulgarian New Democracy said that the loss of money was yet further proof of the failure of the Government to cope with the fight against corruption.

Sofia mayor Boiko Borissov, leader of the Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria (abbreviated as GERB in Bulgaria) - a party that although it is not represented in Parliament rates highest in opinion polls - was quoted by Bulgarian news agency Focus as saying that the Government has received its evaluation from the EC which was political and meant one thing - "that it is no good".

"There is no point to feel sorry about the money now...the Government should simply walk away," Borissov said.

The Government's reaction

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