site.btaBulgaria Has Completed Reviews in 14 out of 25 OECD Committees

The reviews for Bulgaria’s accession have been completed in 14 of the 25 committees of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Foreign Minister Georg Georgiev said in response to a question from Martin Dimitrov, MP from Continue the Change–Democratic Bulgaria. The response was published on the website of the National Assembly.

Dimitrov's question was whether Bulgaria would join the OECD by 2026.

The reviews in the Health Committee and the Committee for Scientific and Technological Policy are practically completed. The final procedural step, receiving formal opinions, is still pending. Once received, the number of completed committees will rise to 16, Georgiev added.

The political goal is for the current phase of technical reviews to be completed by the end of 2025 or in the first months of 2026. Sticking to this timeline would allow for work toward securing a decision by member states to extend a formal invitation to Bulgaria by mid-2026, and accordingly, complete the accession process by the end of 2026.

The coming months mark the final stage of technical reviews, where the National Assembly will play a key role. Completing the process depends mainly on passing legislative changes in line with OECD recommendations. Some of these legislative initiatives have already been submitted to Parliament, and additional proposals are expected to be submitted for discussion in the coming weeks, Georgiev explained.

It is of key importance that all bills related to the OECD accession process be reviewed as a priority and, if possible, voted on by the National Assembly in expedited order by the end of October this year. This would allow compliance with the agreed timeline for completing the technical reviews and would create the necessary conditions for realizing Bulgaria’s membership in the OECD by 2026, the Minister stated.

The Council of Ministers is expected to submit to the National Assembly a proposal to ratify the Agreement between Bulgaria and the OECD on the privileges, immunities, and facilities granted to the organization, signed on June 3, 2025, in Paris. The conclusion and entry into force of this agreement is among the mandatory requirements for completing the accession process and represents an integral part of the overall commitments undertaken by candidate countries for OECD membership, the Minister noted.

The successful completion of the OECD accession process and Bulgaria’s full membership in 2026 depends decisively on strong cooperation between the executive and legislative branches, and on the active involvement of the National Assembly, the Foreign Minister further said.

The OECD was established in 1961 with the aim of promoting policies for sustainable economic development, raising living standards, and maintaining financial stability. This is noted on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The organization is the successor to the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC), which was created to manage American and Canadian financial assistance (the so-called Marshall Plan) for the reconstruction of Europe after World War II.