The European Union is gradually changing the way it distributes EU funds, putting achieved goals and measurable results ahead of the traditional financing of individual projects. Bulgaria supports this approach, said Deputy Prime Minister Atanas Pekanov during the seventh edition of the Sofia Economic Forum.
According to him, over the past 20 years, Bulgaria has been among the major beneficiaries of EU funds. The main goal of cohesion policy is to reduce disparities between regions in the EU and to help territories that start from a weaker economic position.
“These funds have long been used for infrastructure, healthcare, social policy, education and other important areas“, said Pekanov. According to him, this gave regions with weaker administrative and economic capacity the opportunity to catch up.
NextGenerationEU changed the model
The change began more clearly in 2021 with the NextGenerationEU fund and its main instrument - the Recovery and Resilience Facility. In it, payments do not depend solely on the costs incurred, but on the implementation of pre-agreed milestones and quantifiable targets. The European Commission assesses the evidence presented before approving individual payments.
“These funds are no longer just for infrastructure and large projects, but also for setting clear goals“, said Pekanov. It is this model that the European Commission has indicated as the basis for a stronger link between European funding and the achieved effect.
In its proposal for the next multiannual financial framework for the period 2028-2034, the Commission envisages a budget of nearly 2 trillion euros. The plan includes national and regional partnership plans to bring together different funding streams and focus funds on common investment and reform priorities.
Difficult negotiations for the post-2027 budget
The next budget is still under negotiation between member states and European institutions. Both the total amount of funds and their distribution between cohesion policy, agriculture, competitiveness, security and other priorities are being discussed.
Reuters reported that the proposal for the new budgetary framework uses the experience of the post-pandemic recovery fund, in which individual tranches are released after achieving previously agreed goals.
For Bulgaria, the change means that access to European funds will increasingly depend on specific reforms, deadlines and demonstrable results, and not just on the approval of an investment project.
Pekanov: Europe is lagging behind in artificial intelligence
In Sofia, Pekanov also emphasized artificial intelligence. According to him, Europe is not investing fast enough in this area and needs to increase resources for the development and use of the technology.
“We need to encourage and require companies to use artificial intelligence more than they do“, said the deputy prime minister.He added that artificial intelligence should enter the daily processes of companies, and not remain limited to individual large technology projects.
Sources: investing.com, apnews.com