The President of the European Investment Bank Werner Hoyer has given a high appraisal of the business and investment climate in Bulgaria. At a meeting with the Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, Hoyer discussed the priorities of the EIB for economic growth and employment as well as the ways of a better collaboration between the European Investment Bank and Bulgaria. So far, this bank has invested some EUR 3.3 billion in Bulgaria. Some EUR 1 billion was invested in the private sector. At present the bank is co-financing the implementation of some major project. These are: the reconstruction of the railway roads between the towns of Plovdiv and Svilengrad, the construction of the second bride over Danube, the integrated waste management system of the municipality of Sofia, etc.
In January 2012, the Bulgarian government and the European Investment Bank signed a memorandum for cooperation. It aims at the fulfillment of the Bulgarian strategic projects with the financial aid of the structural funds in the EU. The EIB provides loans to small and medium-sized enterprises, municipalities and public institutions, when funds provided under different operational programmes of the EU are not sufficient. Although he was visiting this country many times during the last 20 years, this was the first visit of Werner Hoyer in Bulgaria as a president of the European Investment Bank. In the mid-1990’s he visited Bulgaria as Minister of State at the German Foreign Office. In his words he was not imagining that he could visit Bulgaria, when this country is already part of the EU.” Bulgaria has now a solid market environment, which makes it very attractive for the foreign business”, said Hoyer after the talks with the Bulgarian Prime Minister Borissov.
According to the Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov the EU has complete confidence in the EIB. It has a high administrative capacity to carry out major projects according to the specifications set by the European Commission. Besides, the bank provides the lowest interest rate on loans to Bulgaria, which is around 4%. This is why most of the major Bulgarian infrastructure projects in Bulgaria are co-financed by the EIB, Borissov reminded. In his words the Bulgarian government wants to co-finance as many municipal projects as possible with money from the EIB. This will happen if mayors of these municipalities are ready to implement the projects, said Premier Borissov. “We thank for the good attitude towards Bulgaria and the high appraisal given by the EIB," the Premier went on to say. "We also thank this institution that it esteems highly the fiscal discipline in Bulgaria and the fact that our country meets all Maastricht criteria, thus becoming a good client of the EIB. The experts of this bank who work in Bulgaria helped us reach a maximum transparency in the projects and meet all requirements of the EC.
Bulgaria received remarks on only 2% of the total projects, while the average remark in the EU is around 5%. Moreover, due to the good cooperation with the EIB, Bulgaria can now be quickly refunded by the EC for the payment made for the infrastructure projects. The implementation of all major infrastructure projects is monitored by European Commissioners. These are the second bridge over Danube river, Trakia highway, the Sofia underground and others. We finance these projects with money from the fiscal reserve and then within 50 or 60 days we receive this money from the EU”, says Boyko Borissov. The Bulgarian Prime Minister has shown optimism before the President of the EIB for a better absorption of the EU funds during the last year of the government’s mandate. “I am sure this will happen, because Bulgaria now absorbs much more EU money than the former government”, says Borissov in conclusion.
English version: Kostadin Atanasov
