site.btaFinance Minister Petkova, ECA Member Ivanova Discuss Court of Auditors' 2024 Report on EU Funds

Bulgaria's Finance Minister Temenuzhka Petkova held a working meeting with Iliana Ivanova, member of the European Court of Auditors (ECA), the Finance Ministry said on Monday. The two discussed the presentation of ECA’s Annual Report for 2024.

“Bulgaria excels in customs revenue collection, and the absorption of structural funds is above the EU average,” Ivanova said during the presentation of the report’s main findings. She highlighted the country’s Information System for Management and Monitoring of EU Funds as another good example.

Petkova welcomed the ECA’s efforts to simplify the rules, noting that this would increase competition in applying for EU programmes. She emphasized the Finance Ministry’s active work, together with other responsible institutions, on securing the second and third payments under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. “We are moving in the right direction and continuing our dialogue with the European Commission,” she said.

Ivanova noted a decline in the EU budget error rate in 2024, down to 3.6% from 5.6% a year earlier. Among the main risks and challenges she outlined were the growing debt burden, with loans rising by over 30% in 2024, increased interest costs under Next Generation EU instrument supporting Europe's economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and their impact on budgets, as well as delays in the absorption of funds under the Recovery and Resilience Facility and the structural funds.