European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has been the European Union's key mechanism for pumping funds into agricultural production and keeping it competitive since 1962.

Last year, 1,378 contracts were signed and BGN 844,340,088 were paid under the Rural Development Programme (RDP) 2014-2020, according to the Annual Report of the Agriculture State Fund and the Paying Agency for 2019 approved by the Council of Ministers, said the government press office, quoted by Focus News Agency.

Prime Minister Viorica Dancila said on Thursday that 288.02 million euros have entered Romania's coffers as reimbursements of payments related to the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD).

She added that Romania reached 17pct in the absorption of European funds, approaching the European average of 18pct.

The European Commission on Tuesday approved a Rural Development Programme for Romania, RDP, aimed at improving the competitiveness of the EU farming sector, caring for the countryside and climate, and strengthening the economic and social fabric of rural communities by 2020.

The European Commission approved on Tuesday the Rural Development Programme of Bulgaria, which is worth nearly EUR 2.4 B.

The programme is aimed at improving the competitiveness of the EU farming sector and caring for the countryside and climate in the period until 2020.

Bulgaria's profit from the eight years of EU membership stands at BGN 14.7 B, according to Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov.

Goranov presented the data in a written response to a question of an MP from center-right party GERB (Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria), according to reports of the BGNES news agency.

The Bulgarian government has approved a revised version of the Rural Development Program 2014-2020 envisaging a total budget of over EUR 2.9 B, including a total of EUR 2.3 B to be provided by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD).

The budget of the 2014-2020 Rural Development Program is to be allocated to 18 measures.

Lozana Vasileva has been appointed executive director of State Fund Agriculture (SFA), replacing Atanas Dobrev, BGNES reported on Friday.

Ms Vasileva has been with SFA for a long time, including head of SFA’s regional directorate in Pazardzhik region, the media outlet said.