"The Bulgarian Government has sent a very strong political signal to the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), European Affairs Minister Gergana Gruncharova said in Brussels on Friday after she and Bulgarian Finance Minister Plamen Oresharski conferred with OLAF Director-General Franz-Hermann Bruner.

"This was a very productive exchange of views on the communication between the Bulgarian services and the OLAF services in their shared task to protect both European and Bulgarian taxpayers' interests against possible financial fraud," Oresharski noted for his part.

He added that the sides discussed opportunities "for better communication and, most important of all, for better results of the communication," which means better quality of the progess and finalization of investigations.

Gruncharova said this first personal contact of hers and the Finance Minister with the OLAF Director General yielded some "very important information." "Every word exchanged will provide a solid basis for the decisions that will be taken in Bulgaria on sharing responsibility for the EU funds with our European partners," she stressed.

No concrete cases and concrete timeframes for corrective action were commented at the meeting, which focussed on ways of "improving the framework of relationships" between Bulgaria and OLAF.

OLAF representatives are expected to visit Bulgaria soon to continue the discussion initiated on Friday. If there are any irregularities, the Bulgarian Government is resolved to address them without delay, Brunner assured his guests.

The meeting comes in the wake of suspensions of payments to Bulgaria under three pre-accession instruments: SAPARD, ISPA and Phare. OLAF's opinion is instrumental for the European Commission in deciding on whether or not to resume payments.

In late January, OLAF Deputy Spokesman Jorg Wojahn told BTA that they were looking into 22 cases related to Bulgaria and investigating 15.

* BGNES photo