The cohesion policy procedures must be simplified, European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu commented during the 7^th European Evaluation Conference entitled The Result Orientation: Cohesion Policy at Work, held in Bulgaria's capital Sofia. When I became EU Commissioner for Regional Policy the absorption of EU funds in Bulgaria was 60%, as in Romania. Now Bulgaria absorbs 95% of the EU money, Commissioner Cretu underlined. In 2015 some 2,000 small companies in Bulgaria were supported directly through cohesion funds and in 2014 a total of 19,000 new jobs were created due to those funds.  Commissioner Cretu said that between 2007 and 2013 over EUR 300 billion was allotted to the EU through cohesion policies and that most of this money was directed to less-developed states, especially to those which joined the union after 2004.