site.btaFourth and Fifth Payments Under National Recovery and Resilience Plan Must Be Made in First Half of 2026 - Outgoing Deputy PM Donchev

The fourth and fifth payments under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), worth nearly EUR 2.5 billion, must be made in the first half of 2026, as announced by the outgoing Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Innovation and Growth, Tomislav Donchev, at the start of Tuesday's Council of Ministers meeting.

Donchev also commented on the third payment of EUR 1.47 billion under the NRRP that was received on Monday. He added that with this, the funds under the NRRP from the European Commission to Bulgaria are approaching EUR 2 billion (nearly BGN 4 billion).

He described this as an achievement, given that a year ago it was unclear whether the NRRP could be saved at all. He said that the plan had been renegotiated, making it possible to support and implement a large part of the reforms and further pointed out that the government negotiated the REPowerEU chapter, securing an extra EUR 480 million. 

Donchev also highlighted the increase in the pace of payments as a success. "We found payments totalling BGN 1.5 billion", he said. "Currently, this figure stands at BGN 4.5 billion, meaning that, in 2025 alone, three times more has been paid out than in the previous four years".

He added that if the cohesion policy funds paid out this year are included, the total amount of European funds invested in the Bulgarian economy will be BGN 8 billion.