NextGenerationEU: Bulgaria submits request to modify recovery and resilience plan

Bulgaria submitted on Friday a request to the Commission to modify its recovery and resilience plan.

Bulgaria’s request is based on the need to factor in the downward revision of its maximum Recovery and Resilience Facility grant allocation, from €6.27 billion to €5.69 billion. The revision is part of the June 2022 update to the RRF grants allocation key and reflects Bulgaria’s comparatively better economic outcome in 2020 and 2021 than initially foreseen.

Bulgaria’s proposed modification of the plan, which will now be assessed by the Commission, concerns 17 investments included in the original plan. Some of these investments are downsized, such as those linked to energy efficiency of public buildings, a national infrastructure for storage of electricity from renewables and the modernisation of hospital facilities. Three investments are removed from the plan, namely those supporting the digital transformation of the Bulgarian Post, the construction of an intermodal transport terminal in Ruse and digitalising the management, control and efficient use of water.

The Commission now has up to two months to assess whether the modified plan still fulfils all the assessment criteria in the Recovery and Resilience Facility Regulation. If the Commission’s assessment is positive, it will make a proposal for an amended Council Implementing Decision to reflect the changes to the Bulgarian plan. Member States will then have up to four weeks to endorse the Commission’s assessment.