site.btaParliament Adopts Amendments to Protection and Development of Culture Act on First Reading

The National Assembly adopted on Thursday at first reading amendments to the Protection and Development of Culture Act. The amendments are related to the activity and functioning of the National Culture Fund (NCF). According to the texts, the Culture Minister adopts strategic guidelines for the activities of the Fund and supervises their implementation.

In the explanatory memorandum to the amendments it is stated that the Bulgarian Recovery and Resilience Plan foresees the implementation of an investment for development of the cultural and creative sectors. It is stated that the investment provides for the reform of public spending on culture through legislative and administrative reform in the NCF, decentralization of cultural policies, through the separation of spending programmes financing cultural product and content on a competitive basis.

The proposed amendments provide for a comprehensive update and improvement of the current statute of the NCF, including the improvement of the management model of the NCF, the introduction of the programme principle and the competitions as a general framework for the activities and spending of the fund.