Blogposts by Tag: Bulgaria

  • Squandring Kosovo's EU Aid

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    Rating: 4/5 with 2 votes

    Published Monday, December 22, 2008 at 20:47
    by Ari Rusila in Debate (27 views and 0 comments)

    Aid for Kosovo

    A big part of EU Aid for reconstruction projects of Kosovo has been wasted due criminal activities, corruption, frauds and mismanagement reports German daily Die Welt on 18th Dec. 2008.  As base of this claim are the investigations conducted by the EU Anti Fraud Office (OLAF), UN investigators and the Italian Financial Police.  More than 50 cases of financial embezzlement was found - most of them in energy sector. In twelve of these cases there is proof of criminal liability.

    According to EU data roughly 2.3 billion euro have been granted for Kosovo as aid since 1999, after the NATO bombing of Serbia. Some 400 million euros has been wasted for energy projects.  According to the alleged reports, EU funds that had been destined for Kosovo’s energy sector, were misappropriated by UN officials in Kosovo, in conduit with local politicians.  Whatever the reasons the results are humble at best - after eight years investments power cuts are still part of daily life in Kosovo.

    While most of the 2.3 billion Euros invested in the reconstruction of Kosovo has disappeared without a trace and when it is expected that by 2011 the EU will throw Kosovo another one billion euro it could be clever to spare a minute for quality-planning and future management. read more

    Tags: Bulgaria, EU Aid, Kosovo, programme management, project management

  • Corruption is only one part of misuse of EU funds

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    Rating: 4.4/5 with 5 votes

    Published Wednesday, July 23, 2008 at 15:31
    by arktika Join PES activists in Debate (1101 views and 0 comments)

    As today’s headlines were dominated by news that the European Commission is to withdraw hundreds of millions of euros worth of EU funding to Bulgaria and to withhold their right to manage such funds, Ari Rusila asks how much of the misuse of EU funds is really down to corruption and organised crime?

    Ari claims that perhaps the real crime is preoccupation with details and bureaucracy, and that EU officials are the culprits.

    The European Commission is set to withdraw the accreditation of two Bulgarian agencies and bar them from using EU funds after details of a European Commission report on Bulgaria’s fight against corruption and organised crime will be officially issued on July 23. Two agencies under the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works and the Finance Ministry will lose their permits to operate with EU funding under the bloc’s pre-accession programme PHARE. This could deprive Sofia of about €600 million. Two other agencies/programmes could meet the same fate.

    The average reader may think that some clever crocks have pocketed a nice sum because the report highlights corruption, organized crime and economical fraud activities in Bulgaria. Undoubtedly these kinds...

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    Tags: Balkans, Bulgaria, corruption, EU funds, programme, project management