site.btaBulgaria Could Receive Half of Resources under National Recovery Plan by End-2025, Says Deputy PM Donchev
A new request for a second payment under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) will be sent in July, Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev said during Question Time in Parliament on Friday. "If all goes well, we could receive the second payment in September," he specified. The third payment could be received before the end of the year, Donchev added.
This means that by the end of 2025, half of the funds under the NRRP could come to Bulgaria, the Deputy Prime Minister underscored.
Donchev described that as a result of the negotiations with the European Commission (EC), it was agreed at this stage to drop the commitment to liberalise the electricity market for household consumers. Moreover, the Government's position is that the country has already fulfilled its commitment related to the Climate Neutrality Roadmap and no further steps in this direction are needed, he noted.
The EC has shown understanding regarding the position that a cut-off date for the closure of coal-fired electricity generation facilities should not and should not be set by law, Donchev underscored. "As a result of the negotiations, an amendment to the National Recovery and Resilience Plan was requested, and the request for a second payment was withdrawn until these changes in the reforms are reflected," he explained.
The Deputy Prime Minister added that the challenges Bulgaria faces are not limited to reforms, but also relate to investments. He recalled that at the beginning of the year, the payments under the NRRP were only 7 to 8%, which is extremely insufficient, given the deadline for implementation - August 2026.
In this context, some 30 investments under the NRRP have been revised in consultation and negotiation with the EC. Eight of them have been dropped altogether - these are projects for which there were not even public tenders prepared or announced and which had no real possibility of implementation. For other projects, the budget was changed, Donchev explained.
In case of investments with a real chance of implementation on time, an increase in funding is foreseen, he noted. He listed as such the projects in railway transport. Several in the health sector will also receive additional funds, including for the purchase of new emergency medical helicopters. Additional investments will also be made in Sofia's underground railway system (the metro). In Donchev's words, BGN 65 million are earmarked for Metro Line 3 and another BGN 84 million for the purchase of new rolling stock.
/DS/
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