site.btaUPDATED Bulgaria to Receive Fourth Recovery Plan Payment by End-July, Deputy PM Pekanov Says

Bulgaria will receive nearly EUR 1 billion under its Recovery and Resilience Plan after a positive European Commission assessment, Deputy Prime Minister Atanas Pekanov said here Friday. Pekanov was speaking at a briefing at the Council of Ministers.

He said the European Commission’s assessment shows that Bulgaria has fulfilled 23 of the 26 targets and milestones linked to the fourth payment.

Pekanov said the money will be in the Ministry of Finance’s account by the end of July.

“This is an important key step for the success of the plan, a vital breath of air for the country’s budget, and a key step for securing and finalizing all these investments that are important to all of us,” Pekanov said.

Pekanov said this result shows that Bulgaria can defend its interests when there is clear political will, coordination and consistency. The positive assessment was made possible largely by work over the past few weeks on anti-corruption reform and the rule of law, he added.

He thanked Prime Minister Rumen Radev for what he described as a clear political commitment, as well as Justice Minister Nikolay Naydenov, Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev, MPs from Progressive Bulgaria and all other parliamentary groups that backed the necessary legislative changes.

Pekanov said Bulgaria had also received a green light from the European Commission to stop procedures for withholding funds linked to the reform strengthening accountability and the mechanism concerning the Prosecutor General. This will allow Bulgaria to receive a further EUR 150 million with the fifth payment under the Recovery and Resilience Plan.

The three unfulfilled measures concern culture, reform in the water and sanitation sector, and integrated urban transport and the single ticket. The Government is working to complete them, Pekanov said.

He said the fourth payment will provide much-needed liquidity for the national budget at a critical moment for public finances. “I have to admit that I find it incomprehensible how previous leaderships at the Ministry of Finance allowed the outrageous situation in which there was no liquidity to pay final beneficiaries who are, after all, doing their work under the Recovery and Resilience Plan,” he said. The payment will allow the Ministry of Finance to cover costs already incurred under the plan, he added.

Pekanov said one reason for raising the debt ceiling under the extended budget was precisely to secure liquidity at the Ministry of Finance.

He said the nearly EUR 1 billion payment stands behind concrete projects, including more than 2,000 STEM classrooms, modernized paediatric and oncology facilities, 23 specialized stroke treatment centres, the air ambulance system with seven medical helicopters, more than 73 homes for older people, new trains, better connectivity and regional development investments.

Bulgaria must complete and report the measures under the fifth and final payment request, worth nearly EUR 1.7 billion, by August 31, Pekanov said. The deadlines are extremely short and every day matters, he added, noting that a timetable has been organized so that each ministry clearly knows its responsibilities.

“Bulgaria has taken an important step forward. Now we have to finish the job, and I am confident that, together with our colleagues, this will happen successfully and effectively. Ultimately, people will not judge the Recovery and Resilience Plan by the number of letters we have exchanged with Brussels, but only by whether they see clear, concrete results,” Pekanov said.

Radev’s Government took office on May 8 with the Recovery and Resilience Plan among the urgent EU funding files before it. The fourth payment had been tied to 26 targets and milestones, while some reform commitments, including changes related to the investigation of the Prosecutor General, were moved to the fifth payment.

The fourth payment is important for the budget and for keeping Recovery and Resilience Plan investments on track. Bulgaria is due to receive the money by the end of July, while the fifth payment is expected only toward the end of the year.