site.btaUPDATED Deputy PM Donchev: Reworking of National Recovery and Resilience Plan to Be Completed within Two Weeks

Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev told a briefing on Thursday the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) was in process of reorganization, which will be completed at the end of April.

Donchev, who is also Innovation and Growth Minister, said Bulgaria has committed to revise the planned investments in the NRRP, so that only those which can realistically be implemented by August 2026 stay on.

Six projects are being permanently removed from the NRRP. Some of them will be salvaged by being redirected for funding under operational programmes with a payment deadline in 2030. Eleven projects will remain in the NRRP, but their funding has been reduced because analyses show they are unlikely to be fully completed by August 2026, said Donchev.

They include projects like the Youth Centres Programme, whose budget is reduced from BGN 63 million to BGN 53 million. The budget of the programme to accelerate economic recovery and transformation through research and innovation was reduced from BGN 278 million to BGN 277 million. Funding for the programme for public support for the development of industrial zones and parks with the aim of attracting investments is reduced from BGN 216 million to BGN 192 million.

At the same time, the budget for other investments that are doing good progress has been increased, and new projects have been created. The increase in funding is by BGN 485 million. Examples include investment in railway rolling stock, which increases from BGN 665 million to BGN 952 million, and in Line 3 of the Sofia Metro, whose budget goes up from BGN 217 million to BGN 282 million. Further examples include the modernization of psychiatric care, up from BGN 23 million to BGN 36 million, and the creation of a helicopter emergency medical service, up from BGN 99 million to BGN 136 million.

Donchev said a decision on at-risk projects which will be financed under the NRRP would be made in the next two weeks. A mission from the European Commission will arrive in Sofia in late April, and analysis will show which investments have a chance to be implemented, he said.

He did not comment on any individual project on the at-risk list for possible removal. The decision will conclude the process of reorganizing the investments in the Recovery and Resilience Plan.

The Deputy Prime Minister believes that Bulgaria has every reason to submit a new request for a second payment from the Recovery and Resilience Facility and to receive the funds by the year's end.

On Wednesday, the government approved and sent the European Commission a request for an amendment to the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, along with a draft content of the REPowerEU chapter. The amendment is based on Article 21(1) of the Recovery and Resilience Facility Regulation, which allows for changes due to objective circumstances.