Bulgaria is beginning preparations for a national and regional partnership plan for the 2028–2034 period, under which the country could program between €15 billion and €20 billion from the European Union’s next budget. This was announced by Deputy Prime Minister Atanas Pekanov at the Council of Ministers.
The amount of funding has not yet been finally determined. According to Pekanov, it depends on the ongoing negotiations at European level over the overall size of the EU’s next multiannual budget.
“With the approval of the Council of Ministers, today we are officially launching the procedure for programming and planning the funds from the next European budget for the new 2028–2034 programming period.”The plan will include investments and reforms based on a model similar to that of the Recovery and Resilience Plan. The priorities identified include economic growth, social cohesion, education, healthcare, infrastructure, energy, transport and connectivity.
Ministries and Municipalities Begin Discussions
The first official meeting with all ministries is scheduled for next week. The European Commission’s current guidelines for structuring the process will be presented at the meeting.
Talks with the social partners, the National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria, trade unions and employers’ organisations are expected to begin over the next two weeks. This will be followed by months of discussions to determine the investments and reforms to be included in the plan.
The first version of the document is expected in the spring, while preparations for the final version will continue for several months. Pekanov stressed that the reforms must be realistic and achievable within the programming period.
Funding Will Be Linked to Reforms
According to the Deputy Prime Minister, the investments will have to be clearly justified and aligned both with national priorities and with the European Commission’s specific recommendations to Bulgaria.
“The planned investments will have to be linked to specific reforms, aligned both with national priorities and with the European Commission’s specific recommendations to Bulgaria,” Pekanov said.The 2027 state budget was also discussed at the briefing. Pekanov said that talks had been held with the European Commission in recent weeks regarding its parameters, and that the final data is expected to be presented on Friday.
He noted that reducing the budget deficit remains one of the main tasks, but described the problems as structural and said they cannot be resolved within a single year. The government plans to optimise state spending and limit the assumption of new obligations without secured financing.
Sources: bntnews.bg, nova.bg