site.btaBGN 10 Mln Added to Budget for Bulgarian Participation in European Peace Facility

The Council of Ministers approved additional expenditures under the 2025 budget of the Foreign Affairs Ministry in the amount of BGN 10,211,164. The funds were paid by the ministry from its own budget in connection with the payment of Bulgaria’s national contribution, in line with the country’s commitments related to assistance measures provided by the European Union to partner countries under the European Peace Facility, as well as to ensure Bulgaria’s representation in the Facility’s committee.

The European Peace Facility was established by Council Decision (CFSP) 2021/509 of 22 March 2021 as an off-budget EU instrument designed to finance all initiatives within the Union’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) that have military or defence implications.

By its Decision No. 704 of 7 October 2021, the government designated the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the responsible Bulgarian institutions for ensuring the payment of the annual national contribution to the budget of the European Peace Facility. The two ministries were also designated to represent Bulgaria on the Facility’s Committee, with the Foreign Ministry ensuring Bulgaria’s participation with regard to assistance measures consisting of EU actions pursuant to Article 28 of the Treaty on European Union.

By another decree, the Council of Ministers adopted amendments to Council of Ministers Decree No. 235 of 2014 on determining the conditions for payment and the amounts of additional remuneration for work under specific conditions for civil servants in the Ministry of the Interior. The amendments update the activities for which employees working under specific conditions receive additional remuneration, as well as the amounts of certain additional payments, adapting them to the single European currency in accordance with the Act on the Introduction of the Euro in the Republic of Bulgaria.