Bulgaria must take necessary steps to receive Recovery and Resilience Plan funds, new PM tells VDL
Recovery and Resilience Plan funds are intended for Bulgaria and the necessary steps must be taken so that the country receives them, Bulgaria’s new Prime Minister Rossen Zhelyazkov said on January 22 at a meeting in Strasbourg with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The Bulgarian government information service quoted Zhelyazkov as saying: “We will also seek a way to the coalition partners to break some political differences related to the reforms under the Recovery and Resilience Plan”.
Zhelyazkov is on a two-day visit to Strasbourg for meetings with leaders of European Union institution, following the Bulgarian Parliament voting his government into office on January 16.
The statement said that Zhelyazkov and Von der Leyen discussed key European topics related to competitiveness and some challenges to it developing, such as overregulation, bureaucratic burden and some policies that need revision.
Security, in particular energy security, cohesion policy and investments for better industrialization were also discussed.
“The issue of targeted investments under the Recovery and Resilience Plan is extremely important for Bulgaria,” Zhelyazkov said.
On January 21, meeting European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, Zhelyakov said that the meetings with the EU institutions were intended “to clearly and categorically state our unwavering understanding of Bulgaria’s European future and the path we have taken”.
He said that serious work is ahead on both the Bulgarian and European budgets and the multiannual financial frameworks.
“We all understand that issues related to competitiveness, stability, sustainability of public finances and policies cannot be postponed if we want both Europe and Bulgaria in a united Europe to be competitive and an island of security,” he said.
Zhelyazkov said that the Budget as a key topic for Bulgaria in the coming months.
He said that the goal was to guarantee stable public finances, and thus to secure important policies related to energy security and connectivity, social measures and the acceleration of work on the National Recovery and Sustainability Plan.
(Photo of Zhelyakov and Von der Leyen: government.bg)
Please support The Sofia Globe’s independent journalism by becoming a subscriber to our page on Patreon:
Become a Patron!