EC to BNT: Bulgaria has not yet requested renegotiation of the Recovery Plan

The Bulgarian authorities have not yet submitted a request to the European Commission to re-negotiate the Recovery and Resilience Plan, a spokesperson for the Commission told BNT on January 16.

"I would like to stress that the revised plan will also have to meet all the requirements related to the Recovery and Resilience Facility. These requirements are, for example, 37 percent of the funds to go to climate and also to meet the recommendations to the countries. For Bulgaria, this includes a progressive decarbonisation of the Bulgarian economy," Veerle Nuyts, spokesperson for the Commission said.

The institution reiterated that renegotiation of the Plan can only take place in exceptional cases and the country requesting it should prove that it is no longer able to implement parts or all of the Plan due to objective circumstances.

On Friday, the EC explained to BNT that they are ready to discuss with the Bulgarian authorities individual stages of the Plan that are not achievable and need to be changed. But this will require a strict case-by-case assessment.

Even if it is changed, the Plan must meet all the preliminary requirements - for example, that 37 percent of the funds be used for climate-related projects and that the recommendations to the country be implemented. For Bulgaria, one of the main recommendations was the progressive decarbonisation of the Bulgarian economy.

Bulgaria is the country in the European Union with the most polluting economy. The European Commission spokesperson stressed that the country's willingness to reduce the decarbonisation of the economy was decisive in the approval of the Plan. The Bulgarian plan envisages a 40 percent reduction in emissions from energy production by 2025.

"On your second question, when a Member State requests a change to the plan, whether this can change the payments and the total amount. No, during the assessment period this will not happen. But the renegotiation will take as long as the evaluation of a new plan. The renegotiation process mirrors the initial approval process," said Veerle Nuyts, a spokesperson for the European Commission.

Crucially, the Plan also provides financial support for greening the energy sector to the tune of more than €2 billion, the spokesperson added. She recalled that the Bulgarian plan was approved last May and the authorities' attention should now be focused on its implementation.

If it comes to a review, the payments agreed so far will not be changed during the Plan review process.

It should be recalled that last week the Parliament instructed the Council of Ministers to negotiate new nuclear capacities, to introduce a system to compensate for high fuel prices and to renegotiate the Recovery and Resilience Plan in the Energy part so that in 2025 40% of them will not have to close and 12,000 people will not be laid off.