site.btaEC Pays Bulgaria EUR 438.6 Mln under Recovery and Resilience Plan

The European Commission announced on Tuesday that it is disbursing EUR 438.6 million in grant funding to Bulgaria as part of the second payment under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the centrepiece of NextGenerationEU.

In April, Bulgaria requested a revision of its RRF, and the amended plan was approved by the EU Council in July, the Commission noted. On July 23, 2025, Bulgaria resubmitted its second payment request for a total of EUR 653 million. The request covers 59 milestones and targets, involving 28 reforms and 12 investments, the EC statement said. The reforms and investments include measures to enhance education, strengthen justice and procurement systems with transparency and whistleblower protections, liberalize the electricity market, address energy poverty, and develop energy storage capacities.

The Commission partially approved Bulgaria’s second payment request on October 3. Bulgaria still has to implement one outstanding milestone as part of this request, related to the reform of the Anti-Corruption and Illegal Assets Forfeiture Commission. The Commission will assess the disbursement of the remaining funds once this requirement is met, the statement added.

Bulgaria’s Recovery and Resilience Plan is backed by EUR 6.17 billion in grants. The current payment raises the total disbursed funds to 29.5% of the allocated amount under the plan, with 38.2% of Bulgaria's outlined milestones and targets being achieved.