site.btaEU Budget Commissioner Outlines Priorities for EU’s Next Long-Term Budget at Sofia Conference, Meets with Bulgarian Officials

European Commissioner for Budget, Anti-Fraud and Public Administration Piotr Serafin began a two-day visit to Bulgaria on Thursday, the European Commission Representation in Bulgaria said. The visit is part of his European tour to consult EU Member States on the bloc’s next long-term budget.

Serafin met Prime Minister Rumen Radev, with Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Galab Donev and Deputy Prime Minister Atanas Pekanov, who oversees the management of EU funds, also attending.

He opened a conference titled The Next Multiannual Financial Framework: Priorities and Principles in Sofia. The event was jointly organized by the European Commission Representation in Bulgaria, the Embassy of Poland in Bulgaria and the Sofia office of the European Council on Foreign Relations.

Presenting the priorities for the EU’s Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2028–2034, Serafin said decisions had to be made despite uncertainty about what the next seven years would bring. Increased defence investment must be reflected in the next budget if the EU is to safeguard peace and security along its borders, he said. The challenge was to set clear priorities while retaining enough flexibility to respond to changing circumstances. A well-designed seven-year budget would provide stability and predictability in an uncertain world, he added.

Serafin also said cohesion and agriculture were not being sidelined in the proposed framework.

"The objectives of our agricultural and cohesion policies still remain fully relevant today. At times when sovereignty is at stake and dependencies are ruthlessly exploited, the common agricultural policy remains crucial for our food security. Could you even imagine Europe dependent on food deliveries from hostile powers?" Serafin asked.

He said the proposed EU budget represented 1.02% of the bloc’s gross national income, compared with 1.13% for the budget adopted in 2020, which was supplemented by EUR 700 billion under NextGenerationEU. The proposal called for the EU to do more while using a smaller share of its collective wealth, he added.

Taxpayers had every right to expect public money to be spent properly and transparently, Serafin said. Every country needed to continue tackling fraud and corruption and enforce the relevant laws in practice, he added.

Pekanov also spoke at the conference, saying the EU needed a larger, more ambitious budget to achieve its new priorities. Competitiveness was, in a sense, a new priority because it had previously been left entirely to individual Member States, he said. National governments would continue their own efforts, but there was now an additional EU dimension focused on helping European companies scale up and increase their market share.

He added that cohesion policy had contributed to the development of many sectors in Bulgaria.

"One of the key elements for an even more effective implementation of cohesion policy is the new results-based approach – a model we tested in the Recovery and Resilience Plan despite the serious challenges we have faced over the past five years. This also contributed to political fragmentation. All these difficult reforms, especially in the energy sector and in the area of the rule of law, were hard to implement. Ultimately, we have now implemented them, and I believe they will contribute to higher economic growth and better performance of the Bulgarian economy," Pekanov said.

At his meeting with Radev, the Prime Minister said Bulgaria was working to reduce its budget deficit by 2027 while taking account of the social and economic effects. The scale and scope of new EU own resources contributed by Member States directly affected national budgets and needed to be considered in the forthcoming MFF negotiations, he added.

Maintaining the strength of EU cohesion policy and the Common Agricultural Policy remained a priority for Bulgaria because of their role in the Union’s stability and competitiveness, Radev said. He called for a thorough assessment of the proposals’ impact, particularly on countries such as Bulgaria, which currently has an excessive deficit.

Serafin also met with Donev to discuss the MFF negotiations, focusing on the revenue side. Despite the challenges, Europe should not scale back its ambitions, Donev said. The strength of the EU and its budget lay in their ability to help build a more prosperous, competitive and secure Europe, he added.

Donev said cohesion policy and the Common Agricultural Policy were important for convergence, growth, competitiveness and food security across the EU. Bulgaria sought agreement on appropriate revenue sources without placing additional burdens on national budgets, he added. He reaffirmed the country’s commitment to reaching a timely agreement on an ambitious, fair and balanced EU budget.

Serafin called for an overall agreement on the MFF as soon as possible.

"We face an uncertain future, which is why I hope a consensus on the Multiannual Financial Framework can be reached by the end of the year. We must consider the package of proposals as a whole, and some compromises will have to be made," Serafin said.

His programme on Friday includes talks with representatives of the National Association of the Municipalities on the regional dimension of the National and Regional Partnership Plans under the next MFF. He is also due to visit the National STEM Centre at Sofia Tech Park, co-funded through the Recovery and Resilience Plan, and EnduroSat’s laboratory and mission control room. The satellite manufacturer and space services provider has received EU funding through the European Innovation Council. Pekanov will accompany Serafin on both visits.