Our minister issued a sharp warning for the country.
There is a risk that Bulgaria will lose at least BGN 2 billion in European funding. The reason – that last night the National Assembly did not accept the changes in the Recovery and Sustainability Plan, the new chapter to it, as well as the updated road map for climate neutrality.
This was warned by acting Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Lyudmila Petkova at a briefing after the meeting of the Council of Ministers.
“The worst hypothesis is a few billion, which, if funding is not received under the plan, the funds must be provided from the national budget. You can judge what a loss of funds it is, because we are still on the second payment. We are not finished, we cannot submit a request for a third, for a fourth payment, if we do not fulfill two or three of the investments. For the second payment, we may have to return part of the funds that we received for the first payment”, explained the acting Minister of Finance, cited by the Ministry of the Interior.
The changes under the Recovery and Sustainability Plan must be sent by October 15-20 at the latest, so that the European Commission can accept them and Bulgaria does not lose funds, she also pointed out and added that the European Commission needs time, from internal coordination as well as the Council, taking about two months.
Lyudmila Petkova said that at the moment, a possible loss of European funding under the Recovery and Sustainability Plan is not calculated in the draft budget for next year. However, she admitted that this would jeopardize the fiscal sustainability criteria necessary for the introduction of the euro in our country:
“I can’t say it definitively at this stage, but there is a significant risk. It is not very certain whether the parameters for fiscal sustainability can be maintained. They can be calculated in the budget, the question is at what cost”, Lyudmila Petkova also said .
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