The European Commission is granting Bulgaria an “advance” of €370 million under the RRP

The European Commission will grant €370 million “in advance,” funds that had previously been blocked due to unfulfilled reforms under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP). Prime Minister Rumen Radev made the announcement before the start of the regular meeting of the Council of Ministers on Friday.

We are returning (from Brussels) with €370 million unblocked, and the European Commission is providing it in advance, as a down payment, due to the trust in the new government and the expeditious actions of the National Assembly, for which I thank the members of parliament,” said the prime minister.

Earlier in the day in an interview with Nova TV Deputy Prime Minister Atanas Pekanov announced that the European Commission is providing Bulgaria with these funds even though the necessary reforms have not yet been finally approved.

The laws are moving extremely quickly and the Anti-Corruption Commission will likely be adopted today,” Pekanov commented.

He added that the Commission must be operational by the end of August.

The deadline for disbursement of the full amount under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) is August 31, {year}.

We have 7 d left for the fourth payment. Currently 19 out of 25 steps have been completed, which means that if the remaining ones are not completed – some of which are difficult to accomplish in 7 d – part of the amount will be withheld from us,” the Deputy Prime Minister stated.

He clarified that the amount will not be lost and the state will have a few more months to meet the requirements for receiving the funds. Some of these include reforms in the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), in the water and sanitation sector and in the investment projects of the National Culture Fund.

Regarding the final payment, the fifth, Bulgaria is set to receive €1.7 billion.

Atanas Pekanov stated that as of now not a single step out of a total of 56 has been completed under the fifth stage of the Pre-Accession Assistance (PAA). He also commented that “there are serious delays on some of them.” Among the delayed reforms are the government’s new digitalization systems and investment projects that are lagging behind in construction.

Pekanov stated that over the past five years Bulgaria has absorbed only about 50% of the funds under the CIP. By comparison the European average is around 70%.

He added that “we must reach at least the 80% European average” but expressed concern that the remaining 20%, amounting to about €1 billion, would have to be paid from the state budget.

The risk is high,” the Deputy Prime Minister commented.

Translated with DeepL.