Finance Minister: Changes to the Recovery and Resilience Plan must be submitted by mid-October, otherwise Bulgaria risks losing BGN 2 billion in EU funding

Bulgaria risks losing at least 2 billion BGN of EU funding due to Parliament's failure to adopt the changes to the Recovery and Resilience Plan, the new chapter to it, as well as the updated roadmap for climate neutrality, caretaker Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Lyudmila Petkova, warned at a briefing after the Council of Ministers meeting on September 27.

The changes to the Recovery and Resilience Plan must be submitted by October 15-20 at the latest in order for the European Commission (EC) to accept them and for Bulgaria not to lose funds, caretaker Minister said.

She added that the EC and the Council need time, internal coordination, and this takes up to two months.

Petkova said that currently the possible loss of EU funding under the Recovery and Resilience Plan is not accounted for in the draft budget for next year. However, she admitted that this may jeopardise the fiscal sustainability criteria necessary for the introduction of the euro in the country.

"I cannot say this categorically at this stage, but there is a significant risk. It is not very certain whether the fiscal sustainability parameters can be maintained. They can be envisaged as estimates in the budget, the question is at what cost," Minister Petkova said.