EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
2009 - 2014
Committee on Petitions
6.9.2011
NOTICE TO MEMBERS
Subject:
1.
Petition 0635/2010 by P.P., Bulgarian and approximately 100 co-signatories
on alleged irregularities in connection with the implementation in Bulgaria of
EU-funded 'Measure 112 - Setting up farms for young farmers'
Summary of petition
The petitioner complains at the way in which the Bulgarian authorities have implemented the
EU-funded 'Measure 112, - Setting up farms for young farmers', which aims to set up farms
for young farmers. The maximum amount of aid under this measure is €25 000 per
beneficiary. Although the petitioner and co-signatories fulfilled the conditions laid down, they
were not taken into consideration as beneficiaries of aid, whereas 1,562,921 BGN
(approximately 49,000 euro) were granted in 2009 to the former Deputy Agriculture
Minister's daughter, an amount which is almost double the maximum laid down in the rules.
As the petitioner's complaints to the responsible Bulgarian authorities have produced no
results, he asks the European Parliament to intervene.
2.
Admissibility
Declared admissible on 8 October 2010. Information requested from Commission under Rule
202(6).
3.
Commission reply, received on 3 March 2011.
The petition
The petition in question concerns the implementation of Measure 112 'Setting up of young
farmers' of the Bulgarian Rural Development Programme (RDP) 2007-13, which is supported
by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD).
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Under Measure 112 support is provided to young farmers setting up for the first time as head
of an agricultural holding. The support is intended to facilitate both the young farmers' initial
establishment and the structural adjustment of the farm business. The Bulgarian RDP provides
for a maximum support of EUR 25 000 per beneficiary under the measure.
Member States draw up their rural development programmes in accordance with the relevant
EU rules (Council Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 on support for rural development by the
European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development). Under the provisions of shared
management, once programmes have been approved by the European Commission, it is the
competent Member State authorities which are responsible for their detailed implementation including the processing of applications and selecting projects for support. In the case of the
Bulgarian RDP, the relevant competent authorities are the Ministry of Agriculture and Food,
which as Managing Authority of the Bulgarian RDP has overall responsibility for its
implementation, and State Fund Agriculture, the agricultural Paying Agency, which deals
with individual applications for support and payment claims under the RDP.
The petition has been addressed to the European Parliament and also directly to Mr. Dacian
Cioloş, Member of the Commission with responsibility for agriculture and rural development.
The petition is a collective complaint on behalf of a group of some 100 farmers who applied
for support for setting up as young farmers under Measure 112 of the Bulgarian RDP, in order
to develop businesses in the nursery garden sector. They consider their applications were
rejected due to alleged administrative errors by the Bulgarian authorities.
The petitioner considers that he and the co-signatories completed applications and fulfilled the
relevant measure conditions, but their applications were refused.
From additional information available at the petitioners' web-site and from related complaints
submitted to the Commission on behalf of the same group of farmers, the Commission
understands that the farmers in question completed aid applications based on the conditions
for Measure 112 specified in the Bulgarian RDP and in the more detailed national
implementing ordinance for the measure. In many cases the farmers were assisted in
completing their applications by the National Agricultural Advisory Service. At a late stage in
the project approval process it emerged from administrative checks undertaken by the Paying
Agency that the farmers concerned did not have the necessary national permits for the plant
propagation activities which they applied for under the measure. Their aid applications were
then refused. The fact that by that time most of the farmers had their national permits issued
was not taken into account. In the mean time all funds allocated to M112 of the Bulgarian
RDP have been contracted, and the measure is currently closed to new applications.
The petitioner compares unfavourably the situation of the group of young farmers with the
amount of aid reportedly granted in 2009 to the daughter of the former Bulgarian Deputy
Minister of Agriculture. The petitioner also complains about alleged unequal treatment, on the
grounds that out of 147 projects for setting up in the greenhouse sector, 47 have been
approved while 100 have been rejected.
The petition is addressed to the EU institutions as the petitioner considers he and his cosignatories have exhausted all avenues to raise their concerns with the relevant national
authorities in Bulgaria other than costly legal procedures, without receiving satisfactory
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replies.
The Commission's observations on the petition
The Commission was already aware of the case of the group of Bulgarian young farmers
concerned by this petition, as this issue has also been raised in separate letters addressed to the
Commission, and in the Parliamentary Question E-5807/2010 of Mrs Parvanova MEP, both of
which included more detailed information on the specific nature of the complaints.
In light of these complaints and within the framework of shared management, the
Commission wrote to Dr Naydenov, the Bulgarian Minister of Agriculture in his capacity as
Head of the Managing Authority of the Bulgarian RDP on 30th July 2010. The Commission
invited the Bulgarian authorities to provide clarifications and explanations on the complaints
raised and how they had been addressed by the competent Bulgarian authorities. The
Bulgarian authorities replied by letter dated 8th October 2010. The matter was also further
examined with the Bulgarian authorities during a recent Commission audit mission
concerning, amongst other issues, implementation of Measure 112 of the Bulgarian RDP,
which took place in Bulgaria from18th-22nd October 2010.
The replies of the Bulgarian authorities confirm that the rejection of the applications of the
group of farmers in question followed administrative checks undertaken by the Paying
Agency which indicated that the farmers did not have the necessary permits from the
Bulgarian Executive Agency for Plant Variety Testing, Field Inspection and Seed Control
(IASAS) for the land on which they already develop propagating material. Registration with
IASAS is a requirement for all producers of propagating material from fruit plants, bushes and
tress and ornamental plants required under the Bulgarian Propagating Material Act. It
appeared however that the farmers in question had not previously been informed in any of the
supporting documentation for Measure 112 or in the advice provided by the National
Agricultural Advisory Service, that such a permit would be a pre-condition for a successful
aid application.
The petition concerns the application of a statutory requirement under Bulgarian national law,
and not a provision based on EU rural development legislation or included within the
Bulgarian RDP itself. The Commission therefore has no competence to intervene directly in
this matter. In its closing remarks during the recent audit mission the Commission did
however invite the Bulgarian authorities to re-examine how it had applied the relevant
national provisions in these cases in the interests of transparency and proportionality, given
the resulting effect for the group of applicants in question, and to inform the Commission of
the outcome of its examination.
The replies of the Bulgarian authorities on the outcome of their examination of this matter and
any follow up action they may envisage under national competence are expected in due
course.
On the subsidiary point raised by the petitioner concerning aid granted to the former Deputy
Minister of Agriculture's daughter, the Commission does not consider this is of direct
relevance to the young farmers' complaint, as the sums in question were granted under a
different measure of the Bulgarian RDP subject to different conditions and aid limits. This
matter has already been the subject of separate examinations by the Commission auditors and
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the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) is also informed of this matter.
Conclusions
The Commission considers that the substance of the petition relates to the application of a
provision based on Bulgarian national law, and so does not fall under Community
competence.
However given the implications of the Bulgarian authorities handling of these cases for the
possibility of the farmers concerned to access EU rural development support under Measure
112 of the Bulgarian RDP, the Commission has invited the Bulgarian authorities to reexamine their handling of the matter. It has requested to be informed of the outcome of this
examination, and of any follow up actions the Bulgarian authorities may envisage under
national competence, in due course.
4.
Commission reply (REV), received on 6 September 2011.
By letter of 19th April 2011 the Bulgarian authorities informed the Commission that they had
undertaken additional checks of all projects submitted under Measure 112 concerning the
nursery garden sector, including the rejected ones. In order to ensure equal treatment of all
applicants, they had then decided to exclude from support under Measure 112 all farmers who
did not hold the relevant national permit for plant propagation activities at the time of
application under the measure (independent of whether they had already been selected for or
received funding, or not). According to the replies of the Bulgarian authorities, all
beneficiaries who submitted the relevant permit at a later date had been given the opportunity
to apply for alternative financial support, namely (a) for a state aid for the farmers concerned
under the de mininmis provision applicable to the agricultural sector1, of maximum EUR 7
500, which was opened as of 1st March 2011 and subject to respect of certain conditions, and
(b) to apply under Measure 141 'Supporting semi-subsistence farms undergoing restructuring'
of the Bulgarian RDP.
Any request for further details on the national measures taken should be addressed directly to
the responsible Bulgarian authorities, the Agricultural Paying Agency-State Fund Agriculture,
136 Tzar Boris III Blvd, 1618 Sofia.
1
Commission Regulation (EC) No 1857/2006 of 15 December 2006 on the application
of Articles 87 and 88 of the EC Treaty to State aid to small and medium-sized enterprises
active in the production of agricultural products and amending Regulation (EC) No 70/2001
(OJ L 358 of 16.12.2006)
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