Bulgaria has a new, but well-known Minister of Agriculture. The new head of the department is the former chairman of the Committee on Agriculture and Food in the Parliament in Sofia, Desislava
Taneva. From November 2014 to the end of January 2017, Taneva was Minister of Agriculture in the second cabinet of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.
The reason for the change is the resignation of the previous Minister of Agriculture, Rumen Poroschanow. He is suspected of embezzling EU funds. Presently, one scandal after the other shakes Bulgaria, just before the European elections. One example is that EU-funded guesthouses are often used as private villas.
Investigations are ongoing
A decision has already been taken against the Agricultural Payment Agency in Sofia, which is responsible for paying out the funds from the EU Rural Development Program. Poroshanov led this organisation in the period when the violations took place.
In Bulgaria, from 2007 to 2013, official data show the building of 746 guesthouses, co-financed by an EU rural development program. The cottages were not always used as accommodation for tourists, as prescribed.
Property of the spouse wrongly declared?In the wake of another scandal, involving unusually reasonably priced luxury apartments for government members in the capital of Sofia, Justice Minister Zezka Zatschewa, among others, had already resigned.
The guest house scandal was accompanied by revelations that Poroshanov did not declare his wife's properties correctly. Furthermore, he was also said to have acquired a cheap apartment in a good district of Sofia - but at this time he was not yet a minister.
Poroshanov does not want "the attack on him to have an effect on the work of the government," said the Sofia government in support of Poroshanov's resignation. Because of the many scandals, the image of ruling party GERB -in office for the third time since 2017- was damaged very much on the eve of the European elections. According to all the latest polls, the Socialist opposition is ahead in the polls.
Source: Agrar Heute