ECA Annual Report for 2021: No quantitative errors have been found in the area of cohesion and natural resources in Bulgaria

No quantitative errors have been found in the area of cohesion and natural resources in Bulgaria - a trend that has been present over the last 5 years. This was announced by the member of the European Court of Auditors (ECA) Iliana Ivanova today during the presentation of the ECA Annual Report for 2021 to the Bulgarian National Audit Office (BNAO) management: the President Tzvetan Tzvetkov, Vice Presidents Goritsa Grancharova and Toshko Todorov.

In the Natural Resources area for the EU, the overall error rate identified for 2021 is close to the materiality threshold.

Iliana Ivanova pointed out that our country has been given as an excellent example of the good cooperation between audit and government authorities, and this cooperation leads to quality checks and low error rates. No irregularities were found in respect of the operations checked by the audit authority and included in the 2021 ECA sample.

Bulgaria maintains its stable trend in the absorption of European funds, and for 2021 the level of absorption is 60%, which is close to the European average (67%) and to that of Spain and Germany, added Ms Ivanova.

The overall error rate for EU budget expenditure increased to 3% in 2021 compared to 2.7% in 2020. Almost two-thirds or 63.25% of audited expenditures were assessed as high risk and increased compared to 2020, when they were 59%.

For the first time, the ECA's audit covered the Recovery and Resilience Facility - a key component of the EU's €800 billion NextGenerationEU package. Unlike EU budget spending, which is based on the principles of cost recovery and conditionality, under the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism, Member States receive funds when they achieve pre-defined key milestones or targets.

In 2021, only one payment was made under the Recovery and Resilience Facility - to Spain. It was found out that one of the 52 milestones included in the Spanish payment request have not been fully met, but its impact was not considered material.

The ECA has identified weaknesses in the way the EC assesses milestones and calls for improvements in future assessments.

In 2021, the total amount of the EU budget spending was €181.5 billion, representing 2.4% of of the total expenditure on the General Government Sector of the Member States and 1.3% of their gross national income. Together with the expenditures under the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the total amount of payments from the EU in 2021 reaches 228 billion euros.