Bulgaria’s recovery and resilience plan

RRF FUNDED PROJECTS IN BULGARIA

WHAT’S IN THE PLAN?

The reforms and investments in Bulgaria’s plan, approved by Council on 4 May 2022, are helping it to become more sustainable, resilient and better prepared for the challenges and opportunities of the green transition and digital transition.

^{*This value includes also the part of the plan which is financed with national resources.}

• 50 investment streams and 47 reforms
• 57.5% of the plan will support climate objectives 
• 23.1% of the plan will foster the digital transition

The transformative impact of Bulgaria’s plan is the result of a strong combination of reforms and investments which address the country’s specific challenges. The reforms address bottlenecks to lasting and sustainable growth, while investments are targeted at the green and digital transitions, to strengthen economic and social resilience and the cohesion of the single market. In particular, Bulgaria’s plan will accelerate the decarbonisation of the energy sector, promote the large-scale deployment of digital infrastructure, including in rural areas, as well as support investments in improving the business environment, education and skills, research and innovation, social protection and healthcare.

All measures have to be implemented within a tight time frame, as the Regulation establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility requires all milestones and targets within the national plans to be completed by August 2026.

In the area of climate and environmental policies, Bulgaria’s challenges include the decarbonisation of the power sector, fostering clean and efficient production and use of energy and resources, improving the energy efficiency of the building stock, making the transport sector more sustainable and ensuring the protection and restoration of ecosystems.

Key measures for the green transition

• The plan supports the green transition through ambitious reforms.
  • Adoption of a clear framework for the coal phaseout and binding commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions of the power sector by 40% by 2025;
  • Accelerating the deployment of renewable energy sources;
  • Market liberalisation of the wholesale and retail electricity markets, governance reforms, as well as the removal of financial and regulatory bottlenecks for energy efficiency investments.
• Investments in renewable energy sources, electricity storage and interconnection capacities (€1.5 billion) and in energy-efficiency renovation of the building stock (over €1 billion).
• In the area of transport, the plan includes a sizeable allocation (€533 million) to decarbonisation measures such as the introduction new electric rolling stock for sub-urban and inter-regional rail transport; the construction of a new section of the Sofia metro; sustainable urban mobility pilot scheme with purchase of zero-emission public transport vehicles and charging station infrastructure.
• Dedicated measures in the area of biodiversity aim to protect ecosystems and natural habitats and species (€15.6 million).

The modified plan, including the REPowerEU chapter, continues to focus on the green transition, devoting 57.5% of the available funds to measures that support climate objectives.

Digital challenges for Bulgaria include insufficient connectivity through very high-capacity networks, low offer and uptake of digital public services, low level of digital skills and limited uptake of digital technologies by enterprises.

Key measures for the digital transition

Bulgaria’s recovery and resilience plan supports the digital transition with investments and reforms aimed at increasing the coverage of very high-capacity networks across the country.

• Investment in rural and sparsely populated areas (€270 million).
• Investments to enhance digital skills (€319 million).
• Investments in the digitalisation of public administration and the provision of digital public services in key areas such as justice, health, employment and social protection (€231 million).
• Investments supporting the digitalisation of businesses (€15.7 million), as well as of the transport (€92 million) and energy sectors (€75.7 million).

The modified plan continues to focus on the digital transition, devoting 23.1% of the available funds to measures that support digital objectives.

Key challenges with an impact on Bulgaria’s medium-term economic performance include improving the quality of institutions and fighting corruption, addressing labour and skills shortages as well as skills mismatches relative to the labour market needs, improving the quality, inclusiveness and labour market relevance of education and training, improving access to integrated employment and social services and more effective minimum income support, strengthening the resilience, accessibility and capacity of the health system.

Key measures in reinforcing economic and social resilience

The plan contains a set of reforms and investments that reinforce economic and social resilience.

• It includes comprehensive anti-corruption measures, including reforms to ensure the accountability and criminal liability of the Prosecutor General, strengthened anti-corruption institutions and increased transparency and competition in public procurement, support for e-justice, better governance of state-owned enterprises (€69 million).
• The plan also foresees the creation of industry parks (€111 million) and a large-scale economic transformation programme to support the technological modernisation of SMEs and mid-caps, notably their green and digital transitions (€639 million).
• Investments in modernising education and enhancing research and innovation (€900 million).
• The plan aims at strengthening the adequacy and coverage of the minimum income scheme, improving the provision of employment and social services and their integration, as well as modernising long-term care with a focus on people with disabilities and older people (€440 million).
• Modernisation of hospitals and medical facilities, establishing an air ambulance system, the construction of outpatient care units in remote and under-served regions, to improve access to healthcare (€287 million).

Annual events facilitate the exchange of views on the state of implementation of the Recovery and resilience plans, while ensuring close cooperation between all stakeholders and providing a platform to discuss interlinks between the Plans and other Union programmes. 

More information on Annual events held in Bulgaria can be found here

Bulgaria’s plan is consistent with the challenges and priorities identified in the European Semester, the annual cycle of coordination and monitoring of each EU country’s economic policies. For a detailed explanation of the European Semester see the following link: The European Semester explained | European Commission (europa.eu)

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