Deputy Minister Vessela
Gospodinova: “We believe that negotiations with the
EU will be successfully completed”
After our country’s
accession into the EU, the dialogue between Bulgarian and European institutions
was put on an entirely new level. From now onwards, this will be an ongoing
process, within which the specific mechanism for the implementation of EU
requirements in the particular national conditions will be specified. As a
railway sector edition, our magazine will continue to watch and comment on the
progress of this dialogue, as well as on the ensuing issue, concerning the
Bulgarian railways.
The unofficial
remarks, made by the European Commission in January on the draft Bulgarian
sector operational programme ‘Transport 2007-2013’
were the occasion to address for comments the Deputy Minister of Transport in
charge of European coordination and infrastructure projects, Mrs VESSELA GOSPODINOVA:
Any remarks of the European Commission services as of
January this year concerning the Sector operational programme
“Transport 2007-2013”, have been reflected in the latest updating of the programme, and on 5th March 2007, this update was sent to
the Commission for review. The corrections were made in conjunction with a team
of the Twinning-partners of the Ministry of Transport in the sphere of the use
of Cohesion Funds. The fruitful cooperation we have with them, their
indisputable experience, as well as the very proactive approach of the Adviser
for Twinning Projects between the French and Bulgarian Ministries of Transport,
Mr Jean-Claude Ebel,
contributed for the quick reaction on the part of our ministry for the
correction of omissions and the taking into consideration of remarks made by
the European Commission into the draft-programme.
I would like to point out that the development,
coordination and adoption of the Operational programme
is a time-consuming process. In this connection, the recommendations of the
European Commission aim only at the maximum enhancement of the document which
will facilitate the more efficient use of allocations from the Cohesion Fund
and the European Fund for Regional Development. To put it briefly, the usual
practice of Brussels is to implement the approach of discussion, which means
that certain corrections or rephrasing in the draft text should be made, not a
rejection of the draft-text as whole.
The team of the Ministry of Transport is in constant and
good partnership with the European Commission services. We believe that after
the stages of remarks on their part, relevant corrections on our part, and
above all of joint discussion, the negotiations will be successfully completed
and the Sector operational programme “Transport” will
be validated.