The European Commission has assessed Bulgaria’s request for its second payment under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) worth €653mn and concluded that the country had not fulfilled satisfactorily eight of the required measures, which could lead to a significant reduction of the paid sum, it said in a statement on November 29.

Bulgaria submitted its request for the second RRF payment at the end of 2023 as the prolonged political crisis and lack of regular governments significantly delayed the requested reforms. The country was required to carry out 28 reforms and 14 investments.

“[T]he Commission communicated to Bulgaria that a number of key milestones and targets are not considered to be satisfactorily fulfilled, which could lead to a significant suspension in line with the Commission's methodology,” the EC said in the statement.

The requested reforms and investments included measures improving education, business environment and the social and healthcare sectors. Bulgaria was also supposed to invest in areas such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) centres, research and innovation, business support, energy efficiency renovation, renewable energy sources and railway transport.

“The Commission found that eight milestones and one target have not been satisfactorily fulfilled at this stage,” the statement noted.

The authorities in Sofia have claimed that only four measures were not fully completed.

However, according to the EC, the country has failed to fulfil reforms regarding the liberalisation of the energy market, improving electricity generation from renewable sources, drafting a roadmap to climate neutrality, reforms aimed at the fight against corruption and the introduction of mandatory judicial mediation, public procurement and entrepreneurship.

“Most of these commitments relate to key reforms addressing challenges identified in the country-specific recommendations to Bulgaria, and were critical for the approval of Bulgaria's original recovery and resilience plan. As foreseen by Article 24(6) of the RRF Regulation, in the case of non-fulfilment of commitments taken under the recovery and resilience plan, the Commission can propose to suspend all or part of the payment. This procedure gives Member States additional time to fulfil outstanding milestones or targets,” the EC said.

Bulgaria has one month to respond to EC’s opinion to eventually avoid payment cuts.

“Should the Commission, following Bulgaria's observations, confirm its assessment that some or all of the milestones and the target in question have not been satisfactorily fulfilled, it will suspend the corresponding part of the payment,” the EC said.

The exact amount by which the sum will be reduced will be determined subsequently. After that, Sofia will still have six months to fulfill the outstanding obligations to get the remaining payment.