Bulgaria to receive €12bn in EU funding

Bulgarian projects are expected to receive nearly €12bn from EU's structural funds from 2007 to 2013. According to the agreement, EU financing should be less than 75% of the total project value. This means the Bulgarian Government will have to provide another €3bn.

Bulgaria has a lack of companies investing in high technology development, Damyan Damyanov from the Union of Scientists in Bulgaria said. For this reason EU funds were the best source of financial resources for such projects, he added.

Over 99.7% of Bulgarian companies are medium or small sized and over 89% of those fail to introduce any innovations to the production process, Damyanov said. Other possible sources for funding of innovations and scientific projects include state financial aid, bank loans, foreign investment and volunteer sponsorship.

Budapest underground gets €85m loan

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has continued its support for the extension and modernisation of Budapest underground by lending €85m for the purchase of 22 new metro trains to be used on Budapest’s Metro Line II. Previously, in 2005 the Bank provided €875m for the construction of Metro IV.

The new 110 metre long trains with five coaches will replace 35-year-old rolling stock on the currently rehabilitated M2 underground line in Budapest. The project also covers the delivery of spare parts needed for train maintenance and upgrading of the existing metro car depot.

The modernisation will make public transport safer, more comfortable and the new trains will have better energy/fuel efficiency.

The Municipality of Budapest will be the borrower and it will lend-on the EIB funds to Budapest Transport Limited (BKV Rt.), the major urban transport provider in Budapest city and the neighbouring area.

Car industry growing in Hungary

Czech auto parts company Cadence Innovativ is to build a €9.7m plant in Hungary's Esztergom industrial park, in order to supply the Suzuki plant which already exists there. Cadence's Hungarian unit, which also supplies parts to Skoda and Audi, has purchased a 3.8-hectare plot to build the plant.

Sofia Winter Olympics bid rejected

Bulgaria 's bid to host the Winter Olympics in 2014 was rejected on 22 June by the IOC executive board. According to the head of the Bulgarian youth and sports agency, Vessela Lecheva, the rejection was due to the lack of parliamentary and presidential support in Bulgaria. She added that Bulgaria failed to prepare its application thoroughly. The Bulgarian’s now intend to re-bid to host the games in 2018. The other three cities to have their bids rejected were Jaca ( Spain), Almaty ( Kazakhstan), and Borjomi (Georgia).

Sochi ( Russian Federation),  Salzburg ( Austria),andPyeongChang ( Republic of Korea) were selected as the final candidate cities for the XXII Olympic Winter Games in 2014. Commenting on the decision, IOC President Jacques Rogge said: “We are pleased with the decision that was reached through a unanimous consensus. We congratulate the three candidate cities and thank the other four applicant cities for their hard work and enthusiasm.”

Of the three remaining cities, Salzburg, which was tipped to win in 2010, has the infrastructure, the expertise, the experience and the respect of the IOC, and is again a top contender. As far as infrastructure and facilities go, Sochi trails Salzburg but Russia has never hosted an Olympic Winter Games despite being such a dominant participant. The Sochi bid also has solid government support and financial backing. PyeongChang lacks winter sports history and some key facilities but nobody doubts that the Korean team would be able to fund and build everything necessary to pull of the Games.