A large-scale analysis by the Institute for Market Economics shatters the propaganda of pseudo-patriotic and anti-European parties and politicians who trumpet that Bulgaria is paying ever-increasing contributions to the EU budget, but "receives nothing".
The truth is that for decades our country has had access to the multi-billion euro funds of the European Union and has always been in the plus - the non-repayable EU funds invariably exceed, and significantly, our membership contributions, the objective and easily verifiable facts show, "Sega" writes.
Since the beginning of the transition in 1989, by the end of 2024, Bulgaria has received nearly 70 billion leva in non-repayable funding, the study by IME. The colossal amount includes various donors - countries, institutions, funds, but the main part is precisely funds provided by the EU - under the pre-accession funds (SAPARD, PHARE, etc.), under the operational programs, etc.
In practice, over 90% of the funds provided free of charge are under the EU membership. The largest funding is under the operational European programs (about 35 billion leva) and under the Common Agricultural Policy (about 20 billion leva).
Bulgaria is also a recipient of grants from a number of countries - USA, Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, Germany, Great Britain, France, Japan.
Grants are constantly increasing - both in nominal value and in relation to the gross domestic product, that is, they are becoming increasingly significant support for Bulgarian citizens, institutions, and companies. "While in the first years the grant funding did not even reach 1% of the country's GDP, in the last decade it has been around 3% of the average annual GDP", the IME points out.
Our contribution
to the general budget is also growing - its size depends on the economy. But Bulgaria remains among the EU member states that receive more than they contribute.
EU membership costs every Bulgarian 137 euros per year, Euronews calculations show as of 2023. However, from the funds paid out by the Eurobudget, each Bulgarian citizen accounts for 436 euros per year - or three times more than what was contributed.
And the benefits of our EU membership are not measured by simple grocery changes of the "take and give" type. They are in the improvement of roads and water supply, the environment, the modernization of companies and institutions, etc. A separate topic is how Bulgarian politicians and officials manage to pervert the utilization of billions of euros into absorption and outright draining.
Where and how much
Europeans are an important part of the revenues in the state treasury. The share of grant financing schemes (aid, donations, funds for the agricultural sector) in our national budget after joining the EU is approaching 7%. The peaks of about 10% are in 2015 and 2022 - these are the years in which the deadlines for operational programs end and the usual "absorption" is being encouraged so that unused funds are not wasted.
About 1/3 of the European grant funding for Bulgaria goes to the "agriculture" sector. 10-15% are invested in infrastructure, transport, environment, competitiveness and innovation. Nearly 10% are funds for human resources.
More facts
The largest part of the funds are directed to areas with economically well-developed centers – Sofia, Plovdiv, Burgas, indicate the analysts from IME.
The main recipients are state institutions, ministries, municipalities, educational and cultural institutions.
The most numerous are projects related to education, human resources, innovation and social activities.
The notorious PVP Bulgaria receives significant financial support from the European Union (EU) and for the implementation of its Recovery and Resilience Plan - a key source of funds for dealing with the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and for the modernization of the economy.
On December 29, our country received its largest payment under the PVP so far - 1.47 billion euros (this is the third payment in a row). The total amount of grants under the plan for Bulgaria is over 5.6 billion euros. In the past year, the funds received from the EC under this mechanism amounted to about 1.9 billion euros.
The funds would have been even more, but Brussels blocked hundreds of millions - due to unfulfilled reforms and commitments, mainly related to the fight against corruption. And it is not only the PVP, because of corruption, scandals, incompetent and lazy officials and missed deadlines, Bulgaria has lost significant investments from the EU over the years.