site.btaEC to Announce Possible Withheld Amount under Bulgaria’s Recovery and Resilience Plan

The European Commission will announce in a month the amount under Bulgaria’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) whose payment may be withheld if the necessary conditions are not met, the institution’s spokesperson said at a press conference on Monday.

The spokesperson noted that the European Commission has notified Bulgaria in writing of the amount that could be withheld if the outstanding conditions are not met. Bulgaria has one month to respond, after which, if the Commission finds that the condition remains unfulfilled, the payment may be postponed for another six months. The exact amount is expected to be announced in a month’s time.

Asked about the letter sent to the European Commission by the Renew Europe Group in the European Parliament, which links the court case against Varna Mayor Blagomir Kotsev with the assessment for the disbursement of RRP funds for Bulgaria, the spokesperson said there was no connection between the two matters. 

The spokesperson said that the European Commission is reviewing Bulgaria’s request for the second payment under the Recovery and Resilience Plan. Most of the conditions have been met, but the one related to the Anti-Corruption Commission remains outstanding. Consequently, the Commission has initiated a procedure for partial disbursement and requested additional information. A new assessment is expected within a month.

On October 3, the European Commission announced that it had given preliminary approval to Bulgaria’s second request for payment under the Recovery and Resilience Plan, amounting to EUR 653 million. Bulgaria’s plan totals EUR 6.17 billion in grants. The Commission noted that the reform of the Anti-Corruption Commission and the mechanism for confiscating illegally acquired assets remain incomplete and therefore proposed to temporarily withhold part of the payment.