Censure motion in Sofia after Bulgaria was sanctioned by the European Commission

As expected, the European Commission blocked today European funds of over 600 million euro for Bulgaria and has withdrawn the accreditation of two governmental agencies that were managing European funds as a reaction to the country’s performance in dealing with corruption, Novinite informs.

Basically, the 600 million euro funds were available for Bulgarians from PHARE and ISPA funds. No other institution was affected by this even though an initial draft of the EC report concluded that the European funds that will be blocked would amount to some 1 billion euro.

The Commission took this decision due to the high level of corruption registered in Bulgaria and the bad management of EU funds. As a direct reaction, the opposition submitted on Wednesday the sixth censure motion against the Sofia government. Over 80 Parliamentarians voted for the motion which is due to be discussed in the legislative.

However, Bulgarian magistrates reject OLAF’s conclusions considering that the report does not contain clear data nor any evidence.