The European Commission announced Wednesday that it had lifted a freeze on millions of euros in potential aid to Bulgaria after Sofia improved its management of EU funds. 'The commission is lifting the suspension,' a spokesman told reporters. 'Today's decision is the result of considerable efforts made by the Bulgarian authorities, in cooperation with the commission, to identify previous irregularities and to offer proposals for corrective action,' he said. 'The decision shows that Bulgaria has taken the recommendations of the commission seriously, and improved the financial management and control of European Union funds.' The spokesman said the decision would free up 82.563 million euros (123.4 million dollars) in aid money for which Sofia would have to apply. Corruption concerns prompted the European Commission last year to freeze a total of 825 million euros in pre-accession aid to Bulgaria and subsequently axe 220 million euros of it. In September, the commission unblocked EU member Bulgaria's access to some 19 million euros in so-called SAPARD farm aid funds, after Sofia implemented an action plan to address concerns about the use of the aid. Bulgaria joined the European Union in 2007 as its poorest member and has since been dogged by charges of corruption. In Sofia, Bulgarian right-wing Prime Minister Boyko Borisov welcomed the unblocking of the aid as a sign of 'strong political backing for the government' which took office in late July. '(Positive) evaluations like this one are what matters to me and to the Bulgarian people,' he added. 