The country may get some BGN 16.5bn (EUR 8.4bn) from the EU structural and cohesion funds in the period 2014-2020, the minister responsible for the EU funds utilisation Tomislav Donchev informed quoted by Dnevnik Daily. The financing for the period 2007-2013 stands at BGN 13bn under seven operational programmes, BGN 6.2bn of which have already been contracted and BGN 1.76bn have already been paid. In the next programming period, the authorities will prioritise the combination of infrastructure and social measures, to be financed from several funds. Also, Donchev informed that the EC has allowed the authorities to use technical assistance from experts from international financial institutions (the WB, the EBRD or the European Investment Bank) for the EU funds utilisation.