site.btaNew European Multiannual Financial Framework to be Fundamentally Different, Says MEP Andrey Novakov

The new European multiannual financial framework will be fundamentally different than the previous frameworks in the last 20 years, as for the first time money will be spent on defence and promoting the industry in the sector, MEP Andrey Novakov (EPP/GERB) said at a local conference within BTA's Europe on Balkans: Cohesion Skills project. The conference is taking place at the BTA National Press Club in Pazardzhik on Friday.

It turned out that history continues to be written, including by those who have more tanks and more ambitions to restore their imperial dreams and past, he stressed.

Novakov emphasized that the times when one could rely on a secure resource, in which 80% of the cost of a project was funded free of charge by the European Union, are gone. One of the reasons is that it is used little, as strange as it may sound. This, he said, will happen unless something radically changes in the next three years so that 99% of the invested money is used, even though at the moment it stands at 6%.

He stressed that the opportunities the EU provides young people are something unthinkable for their parents' generation. "For you, it is already a given that you do not pay roaming when traveling, that you will no longer be asked for your ID card, that there are airlines where you scan your ticket and land on the other side of the continent," Novakov addressed the students at the conference, adding that in order to be able to do this, their parents' generation needed five transit visas, waiting at night in front of embassies and five different types of currency.

"I have often raised the idea of ​​setting aside one day a year in meetings with young people to be a (simulation) day (what life would be) without the European Union. Let's start lining up at the borders, lining up for visas, putting up wire fences to see how quickly we will stop feeling nostalgic for a time we didn't live in," Novakov stressed, adding that the students in Pazardzhik have an exceptional start to life and if there is anything that limits them, it is the limitations they set for themselves. "You are in no way inferior to your peers from Brussels, Amsterdam, Vienna or Berlin. Step forward with the self-confidence of Bulgarians, precisely because of where you were born and what knowledge you have received," he pointed out.

The MEP said that the European Union, through regional development funds, invests in kindergartens, schools, infrastructure, recreational areas, healthcare and almost everything else one can think of. "I am worried that we cannot take the billions of European funding that we (could) have," Novakov noted, adding that it is a missed benefit, as Bulgaria does not have enough money of its own and because the funds have already been approved. He expressed hope that the government will be successful in making up for the last four years, which were missed years because of short-term governments and numerous caretaker ones.

Through the Europe on Balkans: Cohesion Skills project, BTA aims to raise public awareness and foster open dialogue about cohesion policy, local achievements, and the implementation of the EU's policy priorities. The project kicked off with a conference in Veliki Preslav in November 2024. Until September 2025, BTA will host discussions at its press clubs in the following cities: Blagoevgrad, Burgas, Varna, Veliko Tarnovo, Vidin, Vratsa, Gabrovo, Dobrich, Kazanlak, Kardzhali, Kyustendil, Lovech, Montana, Pazardzhik, Pernik, Pleven, Razgrad, Ruse, Samokov, Svishtov, Sliven, Smolyan, Sofia, Stara Zagora, Troyan, Targovishte, Haskovo, Shumen, and Yambol. Cross-border conferences will be held in Belgrade, Bosilegrad, Bucharest, Edirne, Skopje, and Thessaloniki. The project builds on the Europe in the Balkans: A Common Future and Europe in Bulgaria: A Common Future projects, implemented by BTA in 2023 and 2024, respectively.