Bulgaria/EU

EU freezes funds to Bulgaria, citing corruption

Article published on the 2008-07-23 Latest update 2008-07-24 10:29 TU

Bulgarian PM Sergei Stanishev
(Photo: Reuters)

The European Commission harshly criticized Bulgaria on Wednesday for failing to deal with corruption and bad management surrounding the handling of EU funds, and announced it was freezing millions of euros in aid money. Bulgaria's access to a majority of the funds expire in November unless it handles the commission requirements before then, EU officials said.

"The fight against high-level corruption and organised crime is not producing enough results," said chief spokesman Johannes Laitenberger. "While there has been movement on a few cases, many alleged cases go unpunished," he said.

Two progress reports on Bulgarian efforts to fight corruption since it joined the EU in January 2007 stressed that "urgent action was needed" before the November deadline, when the money would no longer be available.

He confirmed that more than 500 million euros had been frozen, the money earmarked to help prepare it for EU membership. The funds for structural aid, including infrastructure projects, are not a part of this operation.

Part of the problem had been with the two government agencies handling the money for Sofia. Laitenberger said that their acreditation had been pulled.