Brussels, 19/06/2001 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, the European Commission gave its approval to the first release SAPARD funding (pre-accession aid in the field of agriculture and sustainable development for candidate countries of Central and Eastern Europe) in favour of Estonia, where the government can now implement its projects (planned for the year 2000) for providing aid to the farming sector and for preparing accession to the EU. After Bulgaria, Estonia is only the second of the ten beneficiary candidate countries to fulfil all the criteria required for obtaining SAPARD funds, mainly the establishment of a SAPARD agency responsible for fund management while complying with the rules of transparency and efficiency. Estonia may obtain up to EUR 12.1 million annually from SAPARD over the next six years.
The good news was forwarded to the Estonian government by the president of the Commission, Romano Prodi, and Commissioner Günter Verheugen (enlargement), who were both on a visit to Tallinn on Tuesday. "All Estonians have good reason to feel proud today as they take not just a step but rather a stride towards membership of the European Union", said Mr Prodi. Franz Fischler, Commissioner for Agriculture, expressed the hope that other candidate countries would very soon follow the example of Bulgaria and Estonia by setting in place structures and institutions needed for managing SAPARD funds.