Bulgaria requests second payment under the Recovery Plan

Bulgaria has submitted a second request for payment under the Recovery and Sustainability Plan (RSP) worth €653 million. It covers the implementation of 59 milestones and targets, 20 of which are related to legislative changes. To implement them, amendments were made to 15 laws and three new laws were adopted.

The request includes the largest number of legislative measures through which key reforms have been implemented, such as liberalization of the electricity market, promotion of electricity production from renewable sources, regulatory framework for reporting irregularities, establishment of an Anti-Corruption Commission, improvement of insolvency proceedings, introduction of personal bankruptcy, and restriction of public procurement procedures without publication and/or with only one tender, according to the Ministry of Finance.

However, some of these reforms have been scaled back, such as liberalization, which now only applies to the wholesale market and not to domestic consumers. The government refused to set a deadline for full market liberalization, as demanded by the European Commission.

Nevertheless, in early July, the European Commission gave a positive assessment of Bulgaria's revised recovery and resilience plan.

With regard to investment, the second request includes measures to support small and medium-sized enterprises for technological modernization and in the field of ICT and cybersecurity, a national scheme to support energy-efficient renovation of residential and non-residential buildings, measures to support energy-efficient street lighting systems and renewable energy for households, etc.

The second request was resubmitted after its withdrawal on April 17, 2025, due to unfulfilled measures and the risk of losing funds under it. As a result of the government's efforts, steps were taken to implement the unfinished measures and optimize them to make sure they're done right. The European Commission will assess the payment request within two months.

Translated with DeepL.