Changing already reported budget data is a dangerous precedent and could harm trust in Bulgarian institutions and the country's international authority. This was stated by GERB-SDF MP and former Finance Minister Temenuzhka Petkova in the program “Metronome“ on Radio FOCUS.
Her statement comes after GERB-SDF has filed a report with the European Commission for alleged manipulations in the reporting of expenses by the “Road Infrastructure“ Agency. According to Petkova, there are doubts that activities related to 2026 are being transferred to the 2025 budget year through documents that have not been duly approved by the RIA management board.
„The goal is, based on this information, which will be included in the audit report of the National Audit Office, to submit this report to Eurostat and request a revision of the deficit for 2025“, said Petkova.The dispute over the RIA audit
According to the information available to GERB-SDF, the draft audit report lists 1,017 certificates that have not been approved by the RIA management board. Petkova claims that these documents are not sufficient grounds for the relevant activities to be reported as expenses for past periods.
She also rejected the allegations of hidden invoices, stating that the auditors have not established invoices issued by the contractors for the activities in question. “The Court of Auditors has established that there are no invoices issued and there are no certificates approved by the RIA management board“, said Petkova.
According to her, GERB-SDF has supported audits of the RIA, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy and the National Social Security Institute. However, Petkova expressed reservations about the wording of the inspection of the road agency and stated that expected findings were set when it was commissioned.
She also pointed out that on September 9, the Minister of Regional Development Ivan Shishkov stated before the parliamentary committee on regional policy that he had the audit report of the Court of Auditors. According to Petkova, the Court of Auditors subsequently responded to GERB-SDF inquiries that neither a final nor a draft report had been submitted at this time.
The differences over the deficit
Petkova rejected allegations that the previous regular government had deliberately concealed expenses in order to meet the criteria for joining the eurozone. She pointed out that the European Commission's estimate of the budget deficit in 2025, after deducting additional defense spending under the applicable derogation, was 2.9% of gross domestic product at a reference value of 3%.
According to Petkova, the actions of the current government are related to an attempt to justify a revision of the deficit after a budget with a projected deficit of 5.7% of GDP was proposed. She expects the final report of the Court of Audit to be submitted to the National Assembly by the end of October.
The Ministry of Finance rejects the allegations of manipulation of documents and certificates in the RIA and states that there is no mechanism for changing data and dates of already issued certificates and invoices. The department defines the accusations as political intrigues and emphasizes that the work of the Court of Audit is not subject to interference.
Petkova stated that the signal to the European Commission contains the information that the party has and that additional data will be provided if necessary. She called on the European institutions to verify the circumstances presented within the framework of their powers.
Sources: focus-news.net