{"id":20272,"date":"2014-01-28T12:57:42","date_gmt":"2014-01-28T12:57:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.bivol.bg\/monica-yosifova-is-giving-back-the-money-for-the-infamous-eu-project.html"},"modified":"2014-01-28T12:57:42","modified_gmt":"2014-01-28T12:57:42","slug":"monica-yosifova-is-giving-back-the-money-for-the-infamous-eu-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/monica-yosifova-is-giving-back-the-money-for-the-infamous-eu-project.html","title":{"rendered":"MONICA YOSIFOVA IS GIVING BACK THE MONEY FOR THE INFAMOUS EU PROJECT"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/sergei-monika.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><b><i>German MEP says \u201cthe deal could be tainted.\u201d The contract with the wife of PES\u2019 president will be investigated by the Budgets Committee of the European Parliament<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>Active Group<\/strong>, the company of <strong>Monica Yosifova<\/strong>, is giving up the scandalous project funded by the<strong>European Parliament<\/strong> and will restore the advance pay of <strong>29 679.93 euros<\/strong> it received shortly after she married the <strong>President of the Party of European Socialists<\/strong> (PES) <strong>Sergey Stanishev<\/strong>. This is written in a letter sent via email to the editorial office of Bivol. The letter is signed personally by Monica Yosifova.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Details from this grant were revealed in a series of publications of Bivol from October-November 2013. The European Parliament rejected suspicions of conflict of interest, but refused to provide detailed financial information on the spending of the grant. Bulgarian media kept silent about the case until the information was published in &#8220;Der Spiegel&#8221; magazine at the very end of 2013. Prior to this, Bivol\u2019s presentation before the Council of Europe was blatantly censored by organizers because it mentioned the case.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">After the publication in &#8220;Der Spiegel,&#8221; MEPs decided to get involved and asked the Budgets Committee of the European Parliament to check this grant.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">Monica Yosifova assesses media interest and the upcoming review of the grant as &#8220;attempts to burden it with malicious and unfounded accusations to be used unscrupulously and speculatively for political strife.&#8221; She also rejects suspicions of conflict of interest.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">However, it remains unclear why Active Group has decided to forgo the project and to return the money when it sees nothing wrong with it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">Bivol will insist on a discussion of the case by the European Parliament and on a full analysis of lack or presence of conflict of interest.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">We will also insist on an apology from the Council of Europe for the unprecedented censorship of our presentation and on an independent investigation to determine whether this censorship has not been the result of political pressure from the highest levels in PES and in European institutions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">Below is the full text of the letter of Monica Yosifova (she has signed it as Stanisheva):<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Dear Colleagues,<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Last week, the company &#8220;Active group&#8221; Ltd. sent a letter to the European Parliament, with which it notified the institution that it is terminating the implementation of the project &#8220;How Do We Understand EP.&#8221; All funds invested to date in the project are the company\u2019s own. The advance payment in the amount of 29 679.93 euros will be refunded.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The company &#8220;Active group&#8221; Ltd concluded this contract after participation in an open tender procedure, announced on the website of the European Parliament, and was approved to sign the framework partnership agreement with the prestigious institution in 2012<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">This is a resounding recognition of the professionalism of our team and the quality of the project.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">In recent months, however, we have witnessed a series of attempts to burden it with malicious and unfounded accusations to be used unscrupulously and speculatively for political strife. As an agency that has been shaping its professional reputation for over 12 years, it is impossible for us to jeopardize the purpose and the goals of this project. Activities, embedded in it, were designed to build trust, not to feed unhealthy political interests.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">This project has already sparked interest in Bulgarian media. The answer of Ms. Marjory van der Broeke, Head of the Press Unit of the European Parliament\u2019s Directorate General for Communication, sent to them was eloquent enough &#8211; the project was deemed eligible for subsidizing on the basis of the opinion of an independent evaluation committee, composed of 6 members of different European Parliament services. Our project complied with all the selection criteria and was rated as one of the best proposals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Although, there is a clear refutation of the European Parliament of all unsubstantiated allegations, speculations on the subject have not stopped. Moreover, they have reached the point of questioning established and transparent mechanisms for competitive selection procedures of EP\u2019s partners. Precisely such procedure was applied in allowing our agency to participate as a partner of the European Parliament in 2012.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">We consider it our professional duty to protect the reputation of our partners; to not allow to destroy the meaning of the projects we are working on and to give an example of proper market conduct. For this reason, we made the difficult decision to terminate our participation in this project, assuming the responsibility for all ensuing duties and obligations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Respectfully,<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Monica Stanisheva,<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">Manager of \u201cActive Group\u201d Ltd.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><strong>Bivol reminds that:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">On June 15, 2012, <strong>Monica Yosifova<\/strong> has signed on behalf of the company &#8220;Active Group&#8221; a declaration that she was not in <strong>conflict of interest<\/strong>. The declaration is part of the documentation in the application process for a grant of the European Parliament under the program of the Directorate General Communication to promote the work of the institution in Bulgaria and the European elections.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"line-height: 1.3em;\" src=\"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Capture_2014-01-08_a_17.28.31.jpg\" alt=\"Capture_2014-01-08_a_17.28.31\" width=\"600\" height=\"855\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Capture_2014-01-08_a_17.28.41.jpg\" alt=\"Capture_2014-01-08_a_17.28.41\" width=\"600\" height=\"848\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">At this time,\u00a0<strong>Monica Yosifova<\/strong> was living together with\u00a0<strong>Sergey Stanishev<\/strong>, Chairman of the<strong>Bulgarian Socialist Party<\/strong>, BSP, and the couple had a one-year-old daughter. In September of that year, Stanishev was elected President of the\u00a0<strong>Party of European Socialists<\/strong>, PES<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Payments under this project began in the spring of 2013, roughly the time when\u00a0<strong>Monica Yosifova<\/strong>and\u00a0<strong>Sergey Stanishev<\/strong> wed and legally became spouses &#8211; May 20, 2013. In May, \u201cActive Group\u201d<a href=\"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/ep-monica-yosiffova-4-english.html\">received the first tranche<\/a> of\u00a0<strong>29 679.93 euros<\/strong> for this project. This became clear from documents requested and received by Bivol, based on Regulation 1049 \/2001.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>From &#8220;no conflict&#8221; to &#8220;it smells of taking advantage&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">At the beginning of November last year, Bivol asked the EP whether this could constitute a conflict of interest. The Directorate General Communication answered on November 6, 2013, that there was no such conflict of interest as the project has met all criteria of the European Parliament and Monica Yosifova &#8220;received no salary for this project.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span style=\"line-height: 1.3em;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Capture_2014-01-08_a_17.48.50.jpg\" alt=\"Capture_2014-01-08_a_17.48.50\" width=\"600\" height=\"325\" \/><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">In its last issue for 2013, the prestigious German paper &#8220;Der Spiegel&#8221;\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.spiegel.de\/spiegel\/print\/d-124097468.html\" target=\"_blank\">published a reportage on the subject<\/a>, entitled &#8220;Dubious PR contract.&#8221; The article focuses on the political problem that this contract creates for the President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz. MEP Inge<i> <\/i>Gr\u00e4ssle<i>,<\/i> member of the Budgetary Control Committee, has requested a probe of this contract on the grounds the case &#8220;smells of taking advantage.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Der Spiegel also cites EP\u2019s Directorate General Communication having no idea of the family relationship between Monica Yosifova and Sergey Stanishev when contracting the grant and not seeing conflict of interest.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>The financial terms of the agreement remain secret<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Bivol asked to see annexes to the contract with the financial parameters of the project and the exact allocations: salaries for IT professionals, web hosting, and consumables, among others. So far, under this project a site,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/razberiep.eu\/\">http:\/\/razberiep.eu\/<\/a>, was created, based on the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/p-monica-yosiffova-3-en.html\">free software WordPress<\/a>, which hardly cost more than 1000 levs, and a graphic template for 60 U.S. dollars. There is also a Facebook page, while a drawing competition for children has been already held in six cities. However, the conducted and upcoming activities seem to be times cheaper than those provided for the project \u2013 128 000 euros, of which 60 000 come from European taxpayers\u2019 pockets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Bivol was denied access to financial documents on December 20 last year on grounds their publication will affect &#8220;trade secrets.&#8221; Moreover, according to European officials, there was \u201clack of overriding public interest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>Pressure on the media and censorship of &#8220;Grant Gate&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The October 2013 publication of Bivol about the scandalous grant was passed with silence by all Bulgarian media, except Mediapool, Capital and the PIK agency.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The mention of the difficulties to obtain public information precisely about this contract\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/coe.html\">led to censorship of Bivol journalists<\/a> in the Council of Europe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">The resulting effect, however, was exactly the opposite &#8211; European media became interested in the case, as evidenced by the publication of Der Spiegel, which, though belatedly, received wide coverage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Meanwhile, documents leaked through BSPLeaks, made it clear that as early as 2009,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/bspleaks-monika-medii-english.html\">Monica Yosifova had an active political role in BSP<\/a>, as she was orchestrating political campaigns in favor of the party.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">This fact promises an interesting development of the Budget Committee hearings as the conflict of interest is clearly not limited to the marital relationship of Monica Yosifova and <strong>Sergey Stanishev<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>German MEP says \u201cthe deal could be tainted.\u201d The contract with the wife of PES\u2019 president will be investigated by the Budgets Committee of the European Parliament Active Group, the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","kia_subtitle":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5542,5829,5823],"tags":[5157,5156,5158,5090],"class_list":["post-20272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-investigations-en","category-b-files-monica-en","category-b-files-en","tag-european-parliament-en","tag-grantgate-en","tag-monika-yosiffova","tag-sergei-stanishev-en"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.6 (Yoast SEO v28.5) - 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The declaration is part of the documentation in the application process for a grant of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Investigations&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Investigations","link":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/category\/investigations-en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/sergei-monika.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":16609,"url":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/p-monica-yosiffova-english.html","url_meta":{"origin":20272,"position":1},"title":"EP Has Funded Projects of a Company of Monica Yosifova","author":"\u0415\u043a\u0438\u043f \u043d\u0430 \u0411\u0438\u0432\u043e\u043b\u044a","date":"31 October 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The building on 21 Maria Theresa Street in the European Quarter in Brussels, which houses the office of Monica Yosifova\u2019s company, is \u201cnext door\u201d to the office of OLAF. Photo:\u00a0Google Maps The European Parliament is funding the one-person company of Monica Yosifova \u2013 Stanisheva, \"Active Group\" Ltd. The company, owned\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Investigations&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Investigations","link":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/category\/investigations-en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Capture_2013-10-31_a_22.54.39.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Capture_2013-10-31_a_22.54.39.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Capture_2013-10-31_a_22.54.39.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Capture_2013-10-31_a_22.54.39.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Capture_2013-10-31_a_22.54.39.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Capture_2013-10-31_a_22.54.39.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":16615,"url":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/p-monica-yosiffova-2-english.html","url_meta":{"origin":20272,"position":2},"title":"European Parliament: We Financed Monica Yosifova\u2019s Company, No Conflict of Interest","author":"\u0415\u043a\u0438\u043f \u043d\u0430 \u0411\u0438\u0432\u043e\u043b\u044a","date":"5 November 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"A spokesperson for the Directorate General Communication in the European Parliament responded to a request from Bivol to provide clarifications about financing the one-person company \"Active Group\" of Monica Yosifova \u2013 Stanisheva. As Bivol wrote last week, the company, owned by the wife of the President of the Party of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Comments&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Comments","link":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/category\/comments-en"},"img":{"alt_text":"sergei-monika","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/sergei-monika.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":20273,"url":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/pes-chiefs-urgent-summon-to-brussels-prompted-wife-to-return-eu-funds.html","url_meta":{"origin":20272,"position":3},"title":"PES CHIEF\u2019S URGENT SUMMON TO BRUSSELS PROMPTED WIFE TO RETURN EU FUNDS","author":"\u0415\u043a\u0438\u043f \u043d\u0430 \u0411\u0438\u0432\u043e\u043b\u044a","date":"4 February 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Monica Yosifova-Stanisheva has relinquished the infamous European grant with an email sent on January 23. This was confirmed by the European Parliament\u2019s Directorate General for Communication. The lawyers of the Directorate are preparing documents for the termination of the contract and for the recovery of the advance pay of 29\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Investigations&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Investigations","link":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/category\/investigations-en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16653,"url":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/ep-monica-yosiffova-4-english.html","url_meta":{"origin":20272,"position":4},"title":"&#8220;Wedding Gift&#8221; from Europe: Monica Yosifova Has Already Received \u20ac30 000 from the European Parliament Grant","author":"\u0415\u043a\u0438\u043f \u043d\u0430 \u0411\u0438\u0432\u043e\u043b\u044a","date":"19 November 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Monica Yosifova and Sergey Stanishev were married in Sofia on May 20, 2013. A few days before or after this date, 29 679.93 euros were transferred from the European Parliament to the bank accounts of the company \"Active Group.\" The money was a grant from the EP Directorate General Communication,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Investigations&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Investigations","link":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/category\/investigations-en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/sergei-monika.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":19055,"url":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/monica-yosiffova-20-mln-english.html","url_meta":{"origin":20272,"position":5},"title":"WIFE OF BULGARIAN PES LEADER DEPARTS FOR BRUSSELS WITH 20 MILLION PROFITS FROM PR","author":"\u0415\u043a\u0438\u043f \u043d\u0430 \u0411\u0438\u0432\u043e\u043b\u044a","date":"30 June 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The company of Monica Yosifova - Stanisheva (wife of the leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party and the Party of European Socialists, Sergei Stanishev \u2013 editor\u2019s note) \"Active Group\" Ltd. has accumulated a solid income from advertising and PR during the period 2007 - 2012. 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