Brussels, 13/05/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 12 May, the European Commission announced the unfreezing of €115 million from European funds for Bulgaria, which have been frozen for almost a year due to suspected corruption. The commissioner for regional policy, Danuta Hübner, indicated that “today's decision is the result of extensive work by the Bulgarian authorities and my services…It marks a positive step towards normalising the implementation of EU funds in Bulgaria”. The decision taken by the Commission involves part of the €500 million frozen in July 2008 by the Commission. The unfrozen money, the €115 million, involves regional funds (ISPRA) for road projects managed by the National Agency for Road Infrastructure. The rest of the frozen money, €361 million (no plans yet for unfreezing it) is divided between specific funds for pre-accession programmes (€250 million for PHARE) and agricultural funds (€121 million for SAPARD). Since they joined the EU on 1 January 2007, Bulgaria and Romania have been under close scrutiny by the Commission, particularly in the area of legal reform and fighting corruption. The European Commission is expected to publish a new progress report for these countries in July. (B.C./transl.rh)