site.btaDeputy PM Donchev Expects Second Payment under Recovery and Resilience Plan to Be in Early Autumn

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Innovation and Growth Tomislav Donchev expects the second payment under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan to be in the early autumn of 2025. "We plan to receive the second and third payment within the year. After two months of successful talks with the European Commission (EC), I think the second payment could be in Bulgaria in early autumn," he told journalists on Saturday. The deputy prime minister took part in the official opening of a pilot mobile plant for the production of recycled building materials near Kremikovtsi.

According to European Commissioner for Start-ups, Research and Innovation Ekaterina Zaharieva, who also attended the ceremony, the Bulgarian government has coordination and good communication with the EC. "The EC is interested in making these plans work and in countries getting them so that their economy is more competitive," she said. 

Regarding the mobile plant project for the production of recycled building materials, she stressed that it is a good example of what is being achieved with European solidarity and funds for a more competitive economy and cleaner towns and villages. The project is funded with EUR 9.5 million from the European Union under the Horizon Europe programme, for which Zaharieva is responsible. 

Tomislav Donchev also commented on the proposal of the GERB-UDF parliamentary group that the chairman of the State Agency for National Security (SANS) Plamen Tonchev be elected chairman of Parliament’s Committee for the disclosure of documents and the declaration of affiliation of Bulgarian citizens to the State Security and Intelligence Services of the Bulgarian People's Army (so-called Dossier Committee). 

He has a proven track record and he is not strongly politically coloured and I think he would be a good candidate, Donchev said. 

He said it was a natural extension of Tonchev's professional activities. The deputy prime minister added that there was no new nomination for the chairmanship of the Dossier Committee.