Caretaker Education Minister Expects Resignation of OP Science and Education Head in Wake of Audit

Sofia, February 10 (BTA) - The Ministry of Education and Science has received a preliminary communication from the European Commission in the wake of an audit of Operational Programme Science and Education for Smart Growth, conducted between October 24 and 28, 2016. The communication clearly defines the problems in the programme's management and control systems, as well as with conducted competition series, a statement of the caretaker Minister of Education and Science, Nikolai Denkov, said in statement Friday.

"In my opinion, the present head of the OP Managing Authority, Tsvetana Gerdzhikova, is directly responsible for part of these problems. That is why I am expecting her resignation by the end of the day," Nenkov says.

For example, the structuring of the managing authority lacks a clearly defined designation of the functions of the source providing the funds - the managing authority in the structure of the ministry and the contractor implementing the projects, again part of the ministry, the statement says.

The minister notes that he is not surprised by the findings and the critical tone of the communication. He considers it a logical consequence of the manner in which the programme was managed over the past. He recalls that in April last year he publicly warned that the change in the approach to the operational programme would lead to problems. He was not heard, however, and that was the reason for him to resign as the then deputy education minister.

Together with the EC and in coordination with the Deputy Prime Minister's team they are preparing an action plan for the resolution of these problems as soon as possible. It should be taken into consideration, however, some of the decisions of caretaker government may require longer periods of time than its mandate. The action plan will be presented on a special news conference on Monday.