In the first half of 2026, the fourth and fifth payments under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) worth nearly 2.5 billion euros should be served. This was said by the outgoing Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Innovation and Growth Tomislav Donchev at the beginning of today's government meeting.
He commented on the third payment of 1.47 billion euros under the NRRP, which our country received yesterday. This brings the funds under the NPF from the European Commission to Bulgaria close to 2 billion euros (nearly 4 billion leva), said the outgoing Deputy Prime Minister, quoted by BTA.
Donchev defined this as an achievement, because a year ago the question was raised whether the NPF could be saved at all. The plan was renegotiated, which made it possible for a large part of the reforms to be supported and implemented, he said. Additionally, the government managed to negotiate the REPowerEU chapter worth an additional 480 million euros, the outgoing Deputy Prime Minister pointed out.
The increase in the pace of payments was something that Donchev also highlighted as a success. We have made payments for 1.5 billion leva, he said. Currently, they are 4.5 billion leva, which means that within 2025 alone, three times more has been paid than in the previous four years, the outgoing Deputy Prime Minister said. According to him, if the funds from the cohesion policy disbursed this year are added, then the European funds invested in the Bulgarian economy amount to 8 billion leva. Tomislav Donchev described this as unprecedented. This pace must be maintained, he emphasized.
Whatever the lifespan of this government, we are ambitious to do everything necessary to continue working on the requirements in order to help the next governments receive the remaining funds, he said.