PM Radev Confident Bulgaria Will Receive Most of Next Recovery Fund Payment

Prime Minister Rumen Radev said he was confident that Bulgaria would receive the bulk of its next payment under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP), speaking at a briefing following a Cabinet meeting on August 5.

• European Commission Transfers Nearly €900 Million to Bulgaria Under the Recovery and Resilience Plan

Rumen Radev, Prime Minister: "Last week, Bulgaria received €1 billion under the Recovery and Resilience Plan. These are funds for important projects—from nurseries and building renovation programmes to the metro, medical helicopters and energy storage batteries. I am confident that we will also receive the greater part of the next payment. In recent weeks, the government has succeeded in renegotiating some of the commitments linked to the fifth payment. The reform of the Unified Information Code (UIC) has been revised, the planned water meter fee has been dropped, and intensive work is under way to safeguard funding under the Just Transition Plan for Stara Zagora, Kyustendil and Pernik. We do not mislead our European partners or make empty promises. Instead, we seek meaningful reforms and projects while defending Bulgaria's national interests. I would also like to congratulate the ministers, who succeeded in achieving this through the renegotiations."

Commenting on the dismantling of a laboratory producing and distributing fentanyl in Sofia's Fakulteta neighbourhood, Radev said:

• Illicit Fentanyl Crackdown: Dismantled Lab Was Supplying the Entire Country

Rumen Radev, Prime Minister: "I would like to thank the officers of the Ministry of the Interior for dismantling the laboratory producing the deadliest drug—fentanyl. Combating the production and distribution of narcotics is a key priority for our government. I am confident that both the Ministry of the Interior and the security services will work even more firmly and decisively so that our children and our country have a future."

Photos: BTA

Regarding the acquisition of Ivan Gadzhev’s archive, the prime minister stated:

Bulgaria Acquires Historian Ivan Gadzhev Archive for Less Than €1 Million

Rumen Radev, Prime Minister: "After 15 years of deliberation, Bulgaria has acquired the Ilia Gadzhev Institute for the History of Bulgarian Emigration in North America. We have not simply acquired invaluable archives. We have safeguarded priceless historical evidence from self-serving attempts to appropriate it—evidence of the struggle of the Macedonian Bulgarians for freedom and national unity, and of the Bulgarian identity, ethnic consciousness, language and culture of the Macedonian Bulgarian diaspora in the United States and Canada from the beginning of the 20th century. The Bulgarian government will continue to uphold historical truth, preserve the memory of our ancestors and defend their honour."