Council of Ministers: The draft laws on the Recovery Plan are ready

The caretaker government has prepared the entire package of draft laws on the second tranche of payments for Bulgaria under the Recovery and Resilience Plan, caretaker Prime Minister Galab Donev said on October 20. The second tranche amounts to 724 million euros. The submission of the draft laws, however, to the National Assembly will depend on the election of the Parliament Speaker, Donev explained. The doors to Schengen are wide open for Bulgaria, caretaker Minister of Interior Ivan Demerdzhiev said after the completion of the EC inspection in Bulgaria.

Almost all 22 draft laws on the second payment under the Recovery Plan are ready, the caretaker PM announced.

If the draft laws are not adopted, we risk not getting the money on time, caretaker Justice Minister, Krum Zarkov, explained. The government is also ready to send the finance minister to explain to MPs the different scenarios for Budget 2023.

"There is no doubt that the timely start of the budget procedure and the reasonable attitude of MPs to the state's money is of paramount importance," caretaker PM said.

Donev described his cabinet as a "cabinet of action", which in a short time has managed to bring the country out of the pause mode without wasting time in political games.

"Wasted political time eats away at our time as a society, people want to live in a well-ordered country and not be spectators of political spectacles," Donev said.

Once the EC has completed its inspection in Bulgaria, the country is expected to finally be accepted into Schengen, caretaker Minister of Interior, Ivan Demerdzhiev, explained, with only the Netherlands still having some reservations.

"The feedback is that we have done an excellent job, so with such an assessment in the report, I don't think the Netherlands will have serious arguments against Bulgaria's admission. After more than 2.5 months of hard work, I can say with satisfaction that the door to Schengen for Bulgaria is wide open", Ivan Demerdzhiev said.

The cabinet also proposes to the National Assembly to vote on a decision to open an account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in order to receive a return on the 1.2 billion dollars advanced for the first eight F-16 fighter jets. Such solutions have already been proposed in 2021-2020.

"Unfortunately, due to the termination of the 46th and 47th National Assemblies, these decisions have been left without consequences, as a result of which Bulgaria has lost more than $10 million," said Dimitar Stoyanov, caretaker defence minister.

The government has decided to open a special fundraising account where the unspent defence money will go for the purpose of purchasing 8 new F-16s.

Eight Eurofighter aircrafts will be deployed in the country from November 1 to join in joint protection of Bulgaria’s airspace along with Bulgarian aviation.

This is the latest rotation of allied air forces in this country since 2016 for joint missions with their Bulgarian counterparts.