site.btaGreen Transition Forum 6.0: Day Three

The Green Transition Forum 6.0 went into its third day at the Sofia Event Center on Wednesday.

The sixth edition of the Forum is taking place from June 1 to 5 under the slogan "Europe's Next Chapter – Competitive. Innovative. Secure". The 2026 edition focuses on Europe's new strategic agenda and examines how the European Union can translate its long-term priorities into specific action through stronger competitiveness, faster innovation, and enhanced security in an increasingly dynamic global environment. The forum is organized by Dir.bg in cooperation with the Bulgarian-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce and Industry. BTA is a media partner of the event.

Following is a summary of Wednesday's discussions:

Deputy Prime Minister Atanas Pekanov said that Cohesion policy must remain at the heart of the future EU budget, and any potential reduction in its funding must be opposed. The proposal, presented by the European Commission in July 2025, envisages a budget of nearly EUR 2 trillion. The Minister said: "This is the policy that supports regions and convergence. In Bulgaria, we know of specific projects financed through cohesion policy that have generated significant added value."

Deputy Finance Minister Metodi Metodiev stated that the debate about the revenue side of the EU budget should focus on the issue of fair sharing of the revenue burden. For Bulgaria, calculations based on the European Commission's proposal for a "basket" of new own resources show that the country would double its contribution, he added. Metodiev said that the proposed basket of own resources and the resulting regressivity would be extremely detrimental to the Bulgarian economy.

Iliyana Tsanova, Chief Risk Officer at the European Commission's Directorate-General for Budget, said that in recent years, Europe has had to deal with increasingly serious crises, requiring it to act in new ways. Tsanova added that the EU budget is no exception, as it is one of the principal instruments for achieving European priorities.

The head of the European Investment Bank Group's office in Bulgaria, Teodor Radonov, said that the next budget must enable Europe to act on an even greater scale through more investment, faster implementation and simpler instruments capable of attracting additional private capital.

Tsanko Arabadzhiev, Chief Executive Officer of the Bulgarian Development Bank, noted that discussions about the European budget too often become debates about redistribution – who receives more, who benefits more, and how much each country absorbs. In his view, Europe's future will not be determined by how it allocates EUR 2 trillion, but by how ambitious it is and what it wants to build with those funds.

Former Minister of Energy Traicho Traikov reported that the price of solar energy has dropped by 68%. He added, however, that this would have been the case even without European businesses making the sacrifices that they made. According to Traikov, the development of the energy grid lags behind industrial technologies in Bulgaria.

Anthony Agotha, European Union Special Envoy for Climate and Environment at the European External Action Service, reported that for the fourth year in a row, bankers have made more money from green energy than from fossil fuels. USD 1 trillion is invested in fossil fuels, but USD 2 trillion is invested in renewables, he added.

Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association Chair Rumen Radev pointed out that investment activity in innovation is the dominant factor driving growth. In Radev's view, the greatest obstacle facing investors is the fear of failure.

French economist Philippe Aghion, laureate of the 2025 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, said that creative destruction and artificial intelligence can lead to sustained and inclusive growth and prosperity, provided the right policies are implemented. Aghion said that the main pillars of the AI-driven growth strategy are competition, industrial policy, education, and flexible security. He added that Bulgaria has abundant resources, human capital and world-leading scientists who are extremely dedicated to their country.