Bulgaria Receives €1.47 Billion in Third Payment Under Recovery Plan

Bulgaria has received its third payment under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) amounting to €1.47bn, the government press office announced on December 29.

The funds were released after the European Commission assessed that 48 out of 50 milestones and targets included in the payment request had been successfully met.

The third payment request under the NRRP covers 22 reforms and 19 investments and is the largest submitted by Bulgaria so far. The key measures reported include continued reforms in areas such as research and innovation, decarbonisation, public procurement, improvements to the governance framework of state-owned enterprises, and the development of e-government and e-health services, among others.

This is the second payment Bulgaria has received during the current government’s term in office.

“With this payment, the total funds received from the European Commission this year amount to €1.9bn, which exceeds more than half of Bulgaria’s overall allocation under the NRRP. Disbursements to beneficiaries have also more than tripled since the beginning of the year – from BGN 1.5bn to BGN 4.5bn. In the coming year, Bulgaria is set to submit its final fourth and fifth payment requests under the mechanism,” the Council of Ministers said in a statement.