In the last three years, various crises befell us, but the municipalities showed our strength, we remained a support not only for the people, but also for the state.

This was said today by the Chairman of the Board of the National Association of Municipalities in Bulgaria (NSORB) and Mayor of Veliko Tarnovo, Daniel Panov

Daniel Dimitrov Panov is a Bulgarian politician, born on October 4, 1967 in the city of Veliko Tarnovo, at the opening of the Annual Meeting of Local Authorities in the Albena resort, BTA reported.

According to him, the local government has always been on the front line, finding solutions to issues that even the state does not have.

The start of the third program period is delayed, Panov also said.

According to him, over the past years, mayors and councilors have gained experience and mastered the implementation of European policies at the local level.

He emphasized that over the years NSORB has given proposals for solutions and called now, at the start of the new program period, to avoid the mistakes made in the previous ones.

The mayor of Veliko Tarnovo expects every municipality in our country to have problems with heating in winter

Panov pointed out the centralization of the European resource for the water and sanitation sector as a mistake of the central government.

The companies have dug up our cities, and people are angry with us, they will not finish these projects until the end of next year, and there is a risk that we will lose the resource, the mayor said.

According to him, that is why the local government must explain the essence of this problem to both citizens and central administrations.

Among the urgent tasks for the municipalities, which must be solved jointly with the state, Panov singled out the completion of the passing program period.

According to him, price indexation in construction must be achieved.

"The board of NSORB held talks with three governments and three parliaments about why there is a need for indexation, today the document is a fact, but it is imperfect, and its implementation threatens us with sanctions," Panov pointed out. 

It is high time to stop the constant changes in the governing bodies, Daniel Panov also said

Daniel Dimitrov Panov is a Bulgarian politician, born on October 4, 1967 in the city of Veliko Tarnovo.

As a very bad example, he pointed to the fact that the head of the Growth Regions program was changed five times in one year.

The European funding system is strictly formal, the rules are complicated, and experts are needed, not people who have only vaguely heard about operational programs, said the chairman of the NSORB.

Regarding the Recovery and Sustainability Plan, he noted that it includes 57 investments, of which 19, worth BGN 5.7 billion, can be defined as municipal.

Four consecutive cabinets have shown reluctance to engage the municipalities in the preparation of the Plan, Panov pointed out.

According to him, now that it has been approved, there are many downsides to the fact that local authorities have been neglected.

"Attempts are being made for us to finance the renovation of the buildings, commitments have been made on our behalf - to make outpatient clinics, to look for medical staff, to build Youth Centers," warned Panov.

Regarding the implementation of the Plan, he also said that there are already signals from municipalities that their specialized administrations do not have the capacity to work on it.

We are ending one program period, the new one is starting, people are busy, and therefore we need to find a common solution at the management level, the chairman of NSORB pointed out.

The Association of Municipalities with a request for a 21% increase in budgets

He expressed his satisfaction that in partnership with the Ministry of Planning and Development, the problem with the lists of priority infrastructure projects of the municipalities has been resolved.

"The priority list includes 234 objects with a total value of just over 406 million BGN.

We proposed to the MRRD to finance 50 percent of the value of the approved ones, with the money being brought by the end of the year," explained Panov.

According to him, the municipalities can start concluding their agreements for the financing of the projects from next week.

He added that the NSORB will insist that funds for the remaining 50 percent of the necessary investments in the projects be set aside in the next year's budget.

Daniel Panov

NSORB

Veliko Tarnovo