VDL: Progress on anti-corruption will allow unlocking of 370M euro frozen funding for Bulgaria
Progress made on anti-corruption measures will allow the unlocking of almost 370 million euro of suspended funding for Bulgaria, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in Brussels on May 28 at a joint briefing with Prime Minister Roumen Radev.
Von der Leyen said that she and Radev had discussed “many of the upcoming reforms”.
She said that the EC’s NextGenerationEU programme was bringing real impact on the ground and thanks to it, Bulgaria already had received close to 3.3 billion euro in funding.
“But we all know that there is the deadline in August 2026. So, the goal is to unlock resources by then,” Von der Leyen said.
“For this, we must maintain momentum on reforms,” she said.
“Here I want to highlight the good progress made by Bulgaria in anti-corruption. The establishment of the Anti-corruption Commission is key to effectively pursue corruption at all levels.”
What really matters is that it can do this work in an independent manner, Von der Leyen said.
“In this context, I very much welcome that the legislative process is already well underway. Your government is therefore delivering on this significant milestone,” she said.
Another important step in anti-corruption is the reorganisation of the Prosecutor General’s office, with the aim of strengthening its position for successful anti-corruption investigations, she said.
“Both pillars together will allow to unlock almost 370 million euro of suspended funding for Bulgaria. This is good news for Bulgaria, it is good news for Europe as anti-corruption is a key deliverable for the European Union.”
Von der Leyen said that she and Radev also had discussed geopolitics.
“We share a firm commitment to reach a lasting diplomatic solution for the Middle East,” she said.
She said that they had spoken about the security challenges on our borders and Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
“From air raid alerts to Russia’s deliberate hybrid attacks – the security threats on our eastern border are testing Europe as a whole,” Von der Leyen said.
“Bulgaria has a crucial role to play in our collective defence, in particular in our Eastern Flank Watch. We will support Bulgaria with more than 3.2 billion euro under SAFE as we just discussed. And we are ready to sign our loan agreement with Bulgaria at any time,” she said.
