The new zoning of Bulgaria is already proposed to be written into the Regional Development Act.
From January 1, 2027, the country will have four planning regions instead of the previous six, and Sofia Municipality will be an independent Sofia Region., informs Dariknews.bg
The change is proposed by the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works (MRDPW) with changes to the Regional Development Act. The reason is the new European NUTS classification, which comes into force at the beginning of 2027 and determines how territories are grouped for statistical purposes.
An important clarification is that this will not change the administrative map of Bulgaria. No districts or municipalities will be created or closed, nor will their borders be changed.
The way in which districts are united into larger regions for statistics and regional planning will change.
What will the new map look like?
The Northern region will include Vidin, Montana, Vratsa, Lovech, Pleven, Gabrovo, Veliko Tarnovo, Targovishte, Ruse, Razgrad and Silistra.
The Eastern region will include Dobrich, Varna, Shumen, Burgas, Sliven and Yambol.
The Southern region will include Sofia-region, Pernik, Kyustendil, Blagoevgrad, Pazardzhik, Smolyan, Plovdiv, Stara Zagora, Haskovo and Kardzhali.
And the Capital region will be only the territory of the Capital municipality.
Thus, the previous Northwestern, North Central, Northeastern, Southeastern, South Central and Southwestern regions will be replaced by the four new planning regions.
And what about the highest-level regions?
There will also be a change at the NUTS 1 statistical level. Currently, Bulgaria is divided into two regions at this level - Northern and Southeastern Bulgaria and Southwestern and South-central Bulgaria.
From January 1, 2027, they will be united into one NUTS 1 region, which will cover the entire country.
Sofia will have a special plan
Due to the separation of the Sofia Region, a different approach to strategic planning is also envisaged.
Integrated territorial development strategies will be developed for the Northern, Eastern and Southern regions. There will be an integrated development plan for the Sofia Region, which will also perform the functions of an integrated territorial strategy.
There will also be a change in the regional development councils - instead of six, there will be four.
According to the MRDPW, the goal is to bring the regional development system into line with the new European classification and to improve strategic planning of the territory.
The draft law provides for the changes to come into force on January 1, 2027.