140 million EUR from the SAPARD program are expected to be unblocked on September 10th after the meeting between the Bulgarian prime minister Boiko Borisov and the president of the European commission JosГ© Manuel Barroso. This was announced on Monday by the minister of agriculture and foods Miroslav Naideov, who is in Brussels to attend the meeting of the Agriculture council.

The decision has to be announced by Barroso himself and until then it’s just a hypothesis, added Naidenov. According to him however, during the meeting with the commissioner responsible for agriculture and rural development Mariann Fischer Boel there were clear signs for the intend of the European Commission to unblock the funds.

“She agreed that all requirements for the unblocking of the funds have been met, and also expressed her admiration of the current activities of the new government”, said the agriculture minister. Boel noted the change of administration of the National fund “Agriculture” as an important step forward in the management of SAPARD money.

According to the minister, the government’s decision to include 98 executives of SAPARD projects noted by OLAF as suspicious to the list of debtors was key for the positive decision of Brussels.