site.btaEU Council Approves Recommendations to Boost Bulgaria's Economy

The EU Council has approved economic development recommendations for European countries, including four specific proposals for Bulgaria. They were announced in Brussels on Tuesday.

The Council of the European Union urges Bulgaria to take action in 2024 and 2025, including submitting  the medium-term fiscal-structural plan in a timely manner. In line with the requirements of the reformed Stability and Growth Pact, it should limit the growth in net expenditure in 2025 to a rate consistent with, inter alia, 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.

Secondly, Bulgaria is called upon to "significantly accelerate" the implementation of cohesion policy programmes and the recovery and resilience plan, ensuring completion of reforms and investments by August 2026. To do so, it is urged to improve the functioning and boosting the capacity of the public administration, including at the regional level, increase the quality of procurement procedures and strengthen the independence and functioning of regulators, and rapidly finalize the REPowerEU chapter. In the context of the mid-term review of cohesion policy programmes, Bulgaria should continue focusing on the agreed priorities, while considering the opportunities provided by the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform initiative to improve competitiveness.

Thirdly, Bulgaria needs to improve education and training, including for disadvantaged groups, by enhancing teacher training and implementing competence-based teaching and learning. It also needs to address labour shortages and improve workers' skills to boost competitiveness and support the green transition.

Fourth, this country should reduce reliance on fossil fuels and accelerate the clean energy transition, particularly by shifting to renewable energy in district heating and deploying wind installations. It must ensure sufficient storage capacities to increase the flexibility of the energy system, strengthen the electricity grid infrastructure by introducing smart grid elements and increase interconnection with neighbouring countries. Also, it needs to address energy poverty by implementing targeted measures to reduce the share of population unable to keep their homes adequately warm. Promoting the deployment and uptake of sustainable urban and railway transport is also among the recommendations.