Recovery of incompatible state aid in Bulgaria

According to Commission Decision (EU) 2015/456 of 5 September 2014, during the period 2007-2009, Bulgaria allowed illegal state aid to be granted to private parties by means of 132 forest swap transactions. The Commission required that, within 12 months, the Member State recover state aid in all cases except those which meet the ‘de minimis’ condition and where the beneficiaries carry out non-economic activities. Until now, the Bulgarian authorities have still not carried out an independent assessment of the transactions, which should have been accomplished in a seven-month period. There is no public information on how or on the basis of what criteria transactions to be exempted from the recovery procedure are selected in advance, as well the transactions which would not be subject to independent assessment. Despite the serious delay, there is also no public information about the reasons for the poor implementation of the Commission Decision.
1. What is the actual progress being made with regard to the implementation of the Commission Decision?
2. What measures should be taken to enhance the transparency of the implementation of the Commission Decision?

10 February 2016