Philippe Hatt, European Commission: The OPAC management and control systems are stable

"Operational Programme Administrative Capacity is financing yet more important and significant initiatives especially in the judicial system", said Philippe Hatt, Head of Unit Bulgaria, Romania and Malta, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, European Commission, during the OPAC Monitoring Committee meeting. According to him the management and control systems are stable and an indicator therefor are both the great number of project proposals submitted and the results of OPAC implementation so far. "Much has been done in the past months, but more has to be done. One of the challenges facing the Programme team is contracting the remaining budget amounting to BGN 12 million by the end of the year", Philippe Hatt added.

The OPAC Managing Authority Head Monika Dimitrova-Beecher reported on the progress of the Programme implementation as of the moment. She reported that last year 17 procedures totalling more than BGN 96 million had been opened. All projects proposals were evaluated and decisions to finance the approved beneficiaries had been taken. The main problem at this stage is the delay in some projects and the inexpedient submission of payment requests by the beneficiaries. This results in delaying the verification and certification process before the Committee members.

BGN 161 million have been paid as of the moment or 46% of the Programme budget, the contracted amount being already 80% of the grant, namely BGN 282.6 million. Monika Beecher said that the Managing Authority would do the necessary to minimize the risk of losing funds. The Monitoring Committee was informed about the EC approval of 29.05.2013 to relocate funds from Priority Axis 2 to Priority Axes 1 and 3. The 2012 OPAC Progress Report has been approved.

The possibilities to use the remaining OPAC budget and to change the Indicative Annual Working Programme were discussed during the Monitoring Committee meeting. The EC representatives recommended the savings under existing projects to be monitored, so as to re-programme and contract the unused funds while taking account that all projects should be completed by the end of 2015.