On his complaint to the European Commission concerning the approval of two projects  

The petitioner made a request to the European Commission for financial support to the ‘New Bulgaria’ Foundation for two projects and for a transfer of EUR 600 million from the Roma Integration Programme to the New Bulgaria Foundation. The projects had not been approved for funding by the Bulgarian authorities. He expresses his dissatisfaction over the answer that he received from the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development to his complaint. In their answer, the Commission’s services pointed to the fact that EU support to the agriculture sector is provided on the basis of so-called “shared management” and therefore decisions on the approval or rejection of a project are taken by the competent Bulgarian authorities (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food and the Paying Agency). The remaining programmes financed by the European Structural and Investment Funds are also implemented through shared management and decisions are taken by the relevant competent ministries. The petitioner states that Commission’s services should have forwarded his claim to the services under the remit of the European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit, to examine the merits of his complaint and to give an opinion.