Bulgaria has refused to fight for reforms and investments under the Recovery Plan and development (PVU).
This is what Atanas Pekanov, former acting deputy prime minister for European funds, told the BNR, and specified:
"At the government "Denkov" there was a majority in Parliament to pass the laws relating to the Plan, but this was not done. We will find out that this is a serious mistake. Now - with situational majorities - I'm not sure the laws can pass".
He emphasized that the non-utilization of the funds under the PVA will not put the implementation of the Budget at risk, but this is not a good thing, but a bad thing:
"In my opinion, we will receive half of the money in the second tranche. The EC will tell us we get half the money and a time starts to run where if you don't fulfill everything else, you lose all the money and you can't get anything more until 2026. That will happen soon, I think. Many finance ministers are scrapping capital spending because of this. This is very bad".
According to him, if we don't take the funds under the PVU, there will be long-term consequences, because we will miss out on important investments that will make us stronger:
"Everyone says that because economically things are moving well and everyone says that Bulgaria does not need this money. This is a huge strategic mistake. It will be a huge own goal to lose 8 billion euros because we don't want to accept reforms that will help us".
Pekanov commented that Bulgaria does not stand well among EU countries due to political instability and the lack of a regular government:
it has no common positions on anything".
In the show "Sunday 150" Atanas Pekanov expressed the opinion that there are unpopular measures in the Green Deal and they will probably be revised, but he stressed that he does not expect it to be completely rejected:
"Ursula von der Leyen is currently a candidate for a second term as President of the EC, and the Green Deal was at the heart of her first term. Her re-election will also require the votes of the "Greens".