EC Withholds €200 Million from Bulgaria’s Recovery Plan Over Anti-Corruption Commission; Government Given Six Months to Resolve Issue

€440 million from the second disbursement under the Recovery and Resilience Plan will be transferred very shortly, Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev announced at the Council of Ministers on October 3.

However, the European Commission is withholding €200 million because of the unresolved issue concerning the Commission for Countering Corruption – the authorities will have a six-month deadline to resolve the matter.

“We will have a six-month period, working with the EC services, to completely rethink the existence and mould of the KPK. It is a difficult task, because we are not only talking about negotiations between the EC and the Bulgarian government; we are also talking about finding a parliamentary majority to support a new design and a new logic for the existence and operation of the anti-corruption commision,” he said.

Of the 59 milestone targets required to receive the second tranche, Bulgaria has completed 58, Donchev added. Yesterday the government also submitted a request for the third payment — €1.6 billion:

“That request must be processed as quickly as possible. I repeat my appeal — everyone implementing projects must work to a high standard; the deadline is August next year and we cannot afford any delay,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.

Finance Minister Temenushka Petkova said the withheld funds will not affect the budget deficit, because they are a receivable that the Commission will subsequently reimburse.

“The RRP is being implemented at an exceptionally accelerated pace. The Council of Ministers has done everything required and continues to work so that Bulgaria can benefit from the funds. Since the start of this year we have settled more than BGN 1.8 billion. All funds provided under the first payment have been disbursed and projects are now being paid for from the national budget — to date this amounts to around half a billion BGN,” she said.

Justice Minister Georgi Georgiev said Bulgaria has completed all necessary steps for the second and third disbursements:

“A new law on private bankruptcy, new procedures for mandatory judicial mediation, amendments to the law on whistle-blowers — we passed those. We carried out a reform in the area of commercial insolvency. We expect the National Assembly to adopt, at second reading within two weeks, reforms to the Criminal Procedure Code and the powers of the Prosecutor's Office.”

A lobbyism law is also being prepared and will be posted for public consultation within a week, alongside a comprehensive reform of the Administrative Procedure Code and the digitalisation of administrative proceedings. These changes meet the requirements for the fifth, sixth and seventh disbursements.

“Regarding the anti-corruption commision - this is how it was agreed in the RRP. A framework was set, which Bulgaria has implemented exactly as agreed. The point Deputy Prime Minister Donchev omitted, beyond the contradictions already flagged in Parliament, is the dozens of complaints, initiatives and signals addressed to the anti-corruption commision, including from our political opponents and through their political family — something we warned could not remain without consequences,” Georgi Georgiev added.

photo by BTA