Valentin Tserovski Gives News Conference Six Months after He Was Put in Charge of Phare, ISPA

On 15 January 2003 Regional Development and Public Works Minister Valentin Tserovski was put in charge of Phare and ISPA. An analysis of 2003 utilization of funding from the pre-accession programme showed a serious delay on deadlines. When the new team took office, only 2 projects under Phare ESC instrument had been launched: on vocational training and on investment in business incubators in regions in industrial decline. There was a tangible risk to have 13 projects discintinued: 7 projects under Phare ESC worth 30 million euros, and 6 under Phare CBC worth 40 million euros. Bulgaria could lose 70 million euros. Meanwhile, an audit of the ISPA Executive Agency with the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, carried out by the State Internal Financial Control Agency for 2001-02, found poor organization of work, unclear financial control procedures, poor administrative capacity and tangible danger of non-implementation of the projects. A host of measures were taken in order to make up for the delay in project implementation and strengthen the project management team, including: Establishment of new directorates – Phare Programme Executive Agency and programme ISPA Directorate – reporting directly to the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works; Improvement of the expert capacity and increase of the staffed with experience in managing EU-funded projects; Setting down the rules of procedure for the executive agencies; Drawing up a strategy for the development of the agencies by the end of 2003, as well a plan for achieving the goals and objectives in the strategy; Development of a European Communication Strategy; Launch of a procedure in July 2003 for introduction of a quality management system for Executive Agency Phare ESC and Phare CBC. ISO 9001:2000 certification is pending. Training of the regional representatives of the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works will start in July, as well as training for potential project beneficiaries and those who will exercise financial monitoring and control over the project implementation. An independent partner organization will be contracted in August to monitor the financial aspects of the implementation of the projects where the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works is a contracting party. From October 2003 the Executive Agency Phare is a beneficiary under a project for Capacity Building for EU Fund Management, which aims to certify an executive agency for a transition to an expanded decentralized implementation system. The new team of the Phare and ISPA Executive Agencies managed to catch up for the delay and all projects are being implemented at this moment. Only in six months – from January to June 2003, eleven agreements of a total value of 1,138,755 euros were concluded under Phare ESC instrument and nine agreements worth 6,561,442 euros under Phare CBC. Over the same period, a total of 2,463,943 euros were paid out under Phare ESC and 13,760,432 euros under Phare CBC. Under ISPA, supervisory agreements have been concluded for water treatment facilities in Stara Zagora and Dimitrovgrad for a total of 1.8 million euros. The agreements for design and construction of the Stara Zagora and Dimitrovgrad treatment plants have been submitted to the European Commission for approval. On 18 June 2003 the Agency for State Internal Financial Control submitted a final audit report identifying substantial progress on projects managed by the ISPA Executive Agency with the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, and concluding that the skills and experience of the staff is conducive to the successful implementation of ISPA projects. Public Relations and International Activity Directorate