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Commission adopts preliminary assessment of Bulgaria's second payment request under the Recovery and Resilience Facility
Today, the Commission has adopted its preliminary assessment of Bulgaria's second payment request under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the centrepiece of NextGenerationEU. In parallel, the Commission communicated to Bulgaria that a number of key milestones and targets are not considered to be satisfactorily fulfilled, which could lead to a significant suspension in line with the Commission's methodology
The second payment request covers key steps in the delivery of 28 reforms and 14 investments. They include important reforms aiming to enhance education, strengthen the business environment, as well as improve the social and healthcare sectors. The payment request also includes investments in areas such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) centres, research and innovation, business support, energy efficiency renovation, renewable energy sources, as well as railway transport.
The Commission found that eight milestones and one target have not been satisfactorily fulfilled at this stage. These concern important reforms regarding the liberalisation of the energy market (C4.R8/M91), boosting the electricity generation from renewable sources (C4.R6/M95), the Roadmap to Climate Neutrality (C4.R9/M114), anti-corruption (C10.R2/M217, C10.R2/M218 and C10.R2/M219), the introduction of mandatory judicial mediation (C10.R3/ M227), public procurement (C10.R10/T243) and entrepreneurship (C10.R11/M252).
Most of these commitments relate to key reforms addressing challenges identified in the country-specific recommendations to Bulgaria, and were critical for the approval of Bulgaria's original recovery and resilience plan. As foreseen by Article 24(6) of the RRF Regulation, in the case of non-fulfilment of commitments taken under the recovery and resilience plan, the Commission can propose to suspend all or part of the payment. This procedure gives Member States additional time to fulfil outstanding milestones or targets.
As part of this payment request, Bulgaria has successfully implemented a number of measures, which highlight the positive change the plan can have on both citizens and businesses. These include:
- New capacities for electricity generation from renewable sources and electricity storage: Two calls for tenders were published for 1140 MW of new renewable electricity generation (solar and wind) and 300 MW of electricity storage installations. This will improve the stability of the Bulgarian electricity system.
- Strengthened insolvency procedures: Bulgaria revised the legislative framework to increase the efficiency of insolvency and restructuring procedures, for example by digitising processes, stricter regulations for insolvency professionals and early warning mechanisms.
It is therefore ever more important for Bulgaria to intensify its efforts and fulfil the outstanding commitments, in order to make the best use of its allocated RRF funds. The Commission remains committed to supporting Bulgaria in the successful implementation of its recovery and resilience plan.
Next steps
The Commission has now sent its positive preliminary assessment of the milestones and targets that it considers satisfactorily fulfilled to the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC), which has four weeks to deliver its opinion.
In parallel, the Commission has communicated to Bulgaria the reasons why it considers the above-mentioned milestones and target not to be satisfactorily fulfilled. Bulgaria now has one month to submit its observations to the Commission.
Should the Commission, following Bulgaria's observations, confirm its assessment that some or all of the milestones and the target in question have not been satisfactorily fulfilled, it will suspend the corresponding part of the payment. The suspended amount will be determined by applying the Commission's methodology for payment suspensions (outlined in Annex II of the Communication published on 21 February 2023), which applies to all Member States,and which puts significant weight on key reform milestones.
From that moment, Bulgaria will have a period of six months to take action and fulfil the outstanding commitments. At the end of this period, the Commission will assess whether these milestones and a target have been satisfactorily fulfilled. If so, it will lift the suspension and proceed with the payment of the suspended amount.
Background
Bulgaria's recovery and resilience plan includes a wide range of investment and reform measures. The plan is financed by €5.69 billion in grants.
You can find more information on Bulgaria's recovery and resilience plan on this page, which features an interactive map of projects financed by the RRF, as well as on the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard. More information on the process of payment requests under the RRF can be found in this document of questions and answers.
For more information
Commission's preliminary assessment of Bulgaria's second payment request
Commission's preliminary assessment
Bulgaria's Recovery and Resilience plan
Plan overview, full plan and all other related documents
Recovery and Resilience Facility
Recovery and Resilience Facility
Recovery and Resilience Facility project map
Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard