site.btaEuropean Commission Issues Recommendations for Bulgarian Economy

The European Commission on Wednesday issued a recommendation to the Council to recommend to Bulgaria to take action in 2024 and 2025 in its economic, social, employment, structural and budgetary policies.

The Commission expects Bulgaria to limit the growth in net expenditure in 2025 "to a rate consistent with maintaining the general government deficit below the 3% of GDP Treaty reference value and keeping the general government debt at a prudent level over the medium term." The country is recommended to "significantly accelerate the implementation of cohesion policy programmes and the recovery and resilience plan, ensuring completion of reforms and investments by August 2026, by improving the functioning and boosting the capacity of the public administration, including at the regional level, increasing the quality of procurement procedures and strengthening the independence and functioning of regulators".

The European Commission expects Bulgaria "to improve education and training, including for disadvantaged groups, by enhancing teacher training and implementing competence-based teaching and learning."

Another recommendation is "to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and accelerate the clean energy transition, particularly by shifting to renewable energy in district heating and deploying wind installations." Bulgaria should ensure sufficient storage capacities and should address energy poverty by implementing targeted measures to reduce the share of population unable to keep their homes adequately warm.

The Commission identifies a need for Bulgaria to promote the deployment and uptake of sustainable urban and railway transport, including by accelerating the development of the necessary infrastructure.