EC greenlights Bulgaria’s fourth payment request under NextGenerationEU
The European Commission said on June 19 that it has partially greenlighted Bulgaria’s fourth payment request for 1.1 billion euro under the Recovery and Resilience Facility of the bloc’s NextGenerationEU post-pandemic economic recovery plan.
Bulgaria submitted the payment request in April. The Commission said that its assessment found that Bulgaria “has satisfactorily completed 23 out of 26 milestones and targets set out in the Council Implementing Decision.”
The policy areas in which Bulgaria pursued reforms and investments tied to this payment request include anti-corruption, digitalisation of administrative justice, vocational education and training, support for small and medium-sized enterprises, sustainable transport, decarbonisation and renewable energy, agriculture, and outpatient care, the EC said.
Due to missing out on three milestones, the EC granted only partial approval to the payment request, without specifying the exact amount of funds withheld.
The disbursement of the payment can be made after the Economic and Financial Committee, a body composed of senior officials from national administrations and central banks, the ECB and the EC, has issued an opinion on the Commission’s preliminary approval. It has four weeks to do so.
The Commission also noted that it plans to wind down the Recovery and Resilience Facility by the end of this year, which means that Bulgaria has until August to complete any remaining milestones and targets, as well as submit any payment requests by September.
Bulgaria has 6.17 billion euro allocated in grants under the Recovery and Resilience Facility. Earlier this week, Bulgaria’s Deputy PM Atanas Pekanov said that the country has only received 53 per cent of its funds allocation, compared to an EU average of 85 per cent.
(Photo: government.bg)
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