Bulgaria’s government has adopted a programme setting five priorities to be achieved by the end of 2024. The programme, adopted on July 26, has set the end of 2023 as the target for accession to the Schengen border-free area and January 2025 for the switch to the euro.

Adoption of the programme is a sign that the two formations behind the government — Gerb-SDS and Change Continues-Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) — have reached agreement on key topics and the political situation in the country is stabilising. There has also been a breakthrough on the adoption of the budget for 2023. 

Regarding Schengen, the government will aim to achieve all the requirements of its European partners in order to lift the veto Austria and the Netherlands imposed last year.

The government plans to improve border control with the creation of effective infrastructure and organisation of operations to guarantee the security of EU borders, it said in a statement. Bulgaria has been criticised for the ineffective control on its border with Turkey.

Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov’s government decided to invite experts from Austria, Germany and the Netherlands to help it improve the effectiveness of border control.

The government also plans to reform the security services and introduce new anti-corruption measures.

At the same time, the government will work with its EU partners to get a green light for accession to the Eurozone on January 1, 2025. As part of the measures, the government has pledged to propose budgets for 2023 and 2024 with up to a 3% deficit.

As Bulgarians are more divided than ever over whether the country should switch to the euro, the government also plans to carry out an extensive information campaign in order to end the disinformation that has been widely spread by pro-Russian political formations and news outlets. 

The government has set specific goals for the information campaign, including to explain the benefits of euro adoption for Bulgarian companies and the expected higher wages thanks to more investments from EU member states.

The government will also work to slow down inflation, carrying out reforms to stabilise prices of goods and services and create a better economic environment. It will focus on implementing the reforms and projects drafted in the country’s national recovery and resilience plan in order to get the next tranches of funding from the EU.

The two largest formations in the parliament, until April fierce opponents, joined forces without signing a coalition agreement to back a pro-Western government with a specific reform agenda. 

The government is headed for the first nine months by CC-DB’s Denkov, while during the next nine months, until the end of 2024, it will be led by Gerb’s Mariya Gabriel. 

When announcing the new programme, Denkov noted that it cannot be implemented without the adoption of the budget for 2023, an issue on which the two formations have previously clashed. 

A budget plan was proposed by Finance Minister Assen Vassilev and approved by the government. However, Gerb objected to some of it. On July 26, the leaders of Gerb-SDS and CC-DB met urgently to discuss the budget plan and reached a compromise, Gerb’s leader Boyko Borissov said. He added he has made compromises on many things in order to keep the current government in office and achieve the longer-term goals of accession to the Schengen area and the Eurozone.