site.btaBulgaria Supports Brussels in Seeking Extra Financing for Priority Projects

Bulgaria is willing to agree to higher national contributions to the EU budget because of the need for extra financing for priority projects. 
Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov, quoted by the government information service, expressed formally this position at a European Council meeting in Brussels on Friday.  

„We prefer this scenario because the alternative is no financing for projects, some of which are very important for us, for example in connection with migration and border protection, or redirect money from other EU programmes such as for cohesion, the Common Agricultural Policy or Horizon Europe, which we don’t want to be affected,“ said the Prime Minister. 

If the national contributions are increased, in effect Bulgaria won’t feel it because it will receive more money under policies for migration and EU border controls than it will pay to the EU budget, Denkov added. 

During the debates on a revision of the EU’s Multiannual Financial Framework the member countries rallied around several priorities, which reflect the new political challenges and include providing additional support for Ukraine, providing extra resources in the area of migration and border controls and disaster relief assistance. At issue is whether these additional needs will be financed by raising more money from EU member states or through redistribution of available funds.  

An assessment will be made how redistribution of money under the current EU budget will affect the other EU programmes as an alternative to increasing national contributions. If agreement is reached to increase the long-term EU budget in 2024-2027 the national contributions will be calculated according to a country’s GDP.