Bulgarian Cabinet approves legislative agenda, regional development plans
Bulgaria’s Cabinet approved on July 31 the Government legislative agenda until the end of the year, as well as the regional development plans for the country’s six economic regions for the period 2014-2020.
The legislative agenda had 83 total bills, including eight international agreements and memorandums and 11 new laws. The other 64 bills were amendments to existing laws, the Cabinet’s press service said.
The new laws included the 2014 Budget Act, which the Government plans to finalise by October, a new law regulating the Interior Ministry (due in September), as well as laws on tourism, education and climate change.
Among the existing laws that the Cabinet planned to amend were the laws on public procurement, roads, defence, electronic communications, customs, excise duties and warehouses, youth and medicines.
Separately, the Cabinet approved the regional development plans for the six economic regions of Bulgaria for 2014-2020. “These are part of a package for the strategic planning of regional development, outlining the goals and priorities of sustainable and integrated regional and local development,” the government media service said.
For northwestern Bulgaria, the poorest region in the European Union that has the highest unemployment in Bulgaria, the goals are to “overcome the significant social and economic lag and the serious structural and demographic problems through appropriate investment in connecting infrastructure and strengthening growth potential.”
Infrastructure, tourism, an emphasis on small and medium-sized enterprises, agriculture and closer trans-border and trans-regional co-operation were the economic sectors that were slated to receive funding over the next programme period, according to the strategies approved by the government.
(Photo: Clive Leviev-Sawyer)
