State Fund

The Bulgarian government has approved an additional allocation of 200 million leva (100 million euros) to the State Fund "Agriculture" for "Ukrainian aid" to farmers in 2024, according to the government's press service. The funds are intended to cover part of the second tranche of state aid, which totals 325 million leva.

The European Public Prosecutor's Office in Sofia has seized assets in connection with an investigation into a 2.6 million euro fraud related to the water supply system of a Bulgarian municipality. The probe targets civil servants and a mayor suspected of embezzling funds from the EU budget.

The European Prosecutor's Office has charged a Bulgarian dairy farmer with fraudulently obtaining 237,000 euros in EU funds. The farmer is accused of submitting forged documents to secure funds for building a milk processing workshop. He had initially requested 474,000 euros from the State Fund "Agriculture" and presented a bank guarantee for the advance payment of half the amount.

Yesterday, Acting Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev proposed to President Rumen Radev to relieve the Acting Minister of Agriculture Kiril Vatev from his post and to appoint Georgi Takhov as head of the department, the government information service reported. Takhov is currently the executive director of the State Fund "Agriculture".

Plovdiv, Bulgaria - Traffic ground to a halt in Plovdiv as a convoy of 120 tractors and heavy equipment entered the city, disrupting normalcy and causing chaos on the roads. The protesting farmers, representing various sectors of agriculture, directed their convoy towards the State Fund "Agriculture" after opting not to block the Trakia highway as initially planned.

The Budget Committee of the Parliament adopted a decision to extend the current Law on the State Budget. The decision is to be voted on in the plenary hall. It is expected that there will be a second reading of the project so that the deputies can submit their proposals.

Road builders from across Bulgaria are protesting today

"Today, we hope that the proposal for immediate payment of over 600 million to construction companies will pass through a legal commission, which is, however, 50% of the money owed to them." This was stated by Prime Minister Kiril Petkov at the beginning of today's meeting of the Council of Ministers.

EU funds fraud in Bulgaria is comparable to the largest markets for organised crime such as human trafficking, drug trafficking and illegal fuel trade, according to the "Bulgarian Organised Crime Threat Assessment 2020",  published by NGO Center for the Study of Democracy.

The specialized prosecutor's office has initiated pre-trial proceedings for illegal receipt of funds from European Union mainly under measures administered by the State Fund "Agriculture".

The "Agriculture" State Fund announced a tender for projects for the building up broadband Internet network in villages and small towns in Bulgaria. A separate budget worth of BGN 82 million  is allocated for financing of the projects. These are funds provided under the Rural Development Program and the aim of the projects is to achieve 100% coverage of the country with fast internet.