The European Commission approved the changes proposed by Bulgaria to its Recovery and Resilience Plan, as well as the projects and reforms included in the REPowerEU chapter.
Renegotiating the Plan was one of the government’s key objectives, since its implementation had been blocked due to various factors, including the changed environment for the realization of the measures. The adopted changes are expected to facilitate the application of the Plan and provide conditions for its successful completion.
The amendments envisage a significant simplification of the requirements for the implementation of the milestones and targets included in the reforms and investments, the elimination of intermediate targets, and the consolidation of stages. The number of milestones and targets has been reduced from 321 to 259, and the number of payments under the RRP from nine to five.
Investments or parts of investments that cannot be implemented within the eligibility period for expenditures are dropped from the Plan, and new ones are proposed in their place, in the areas of energy efficiency and transport connectivity, while the scope of some existing ones has been increased.
In addition, the approval of the REPowerEU chapter allows our country to benefit from the additional resources provided by the EC, amounting to €479 million. These funds will support measures to tackle energy poverty, to facilitate the liberalization of the electricity market, and to promote the deployment, storage, and use of renewable energy.
The Plan maintains its strong focus on the green transition – with 49% of funds allocated to climate measures, as well as on the digital transition – with 20.6% of total expenditure designated for measures to accelerate digitalization.
The Council of the European Union has four weeks to review and approve the European Commission’s assessment.
