site.btaDeputy PM Updates Parliament on Progress of EU-Backed Operational Programmes for 2021-2027

Bulgaria has only just started implementing the EU-backed operational programmes in the new programming period, the caretaker government made important steps in this direction over the past couple of months and seven have already been approved, caretaker Deputy Prime Minister in charge of EU funds management Atanas Pekanov said here Friday. He was speaking in Parliament after a legislator from the Movement for Rights and Freedoms asked him to draw a picture of the operational programmes in the new programming period, 2021-2027.

Pekanov reiterated that BGN 14 billion will flow into the Bulgarian economy in the new programming period, plus BGN 2.5 billion in national co-financing.

He said that six of the programmes have already been opened, and that a programme for research and innovation is expected to be approved within weeks.

The regional development programme will be sent to Brussels in November after some issues are sorted out. The Regional Development Ministry worked hard with the European Commission on that and any delays will be made up for, said Pekanov.

He told the MPs that other EU countries are going at a similar pace as Bulgaria.